Is Your Business Struggling Under The Weight of Legacy?
Layers of disparate departments and innovations are preventing modern corporations from adapting to the speed and flexibility of new technology
By SCOTT MATTOCKS
Corporations today feel how customer expectations are shifting. The rise of social media and other technological innovations are changing how everyone operates in our new digital world. Many businesses haven’t been able to keep up. Corporations struggle to adapt and change because of four distinct challenges, otherwise known as “The Weight of Legacy.”
These four challenges work together to drag down business’ efforts to modernize. The Weight of Legacy is smothering modern innovation.
“Large corporations struggle to adapt and change thanks to a set of four distinct challenges: The Weight of Legacy.”
1) Cumbersome IT
Many corporate IT systems have grown into a network of disparate patches and layers of disjointed solutions. Years of improvements and small changes have made connecting new platforms a massive undertaking. Simple tasks that should take a few weeks are turned into months-long projects. Executives know the pain. Upgrading old infrastructure is the goal of 64% of IT budget increases. IT lays the groundwork for the future of businesses, but many departments don’t get to leverage the full skill of their employees, instead tasking them with fixing time-zone issues or isolated platforms that don’t talk to each other.
2) Slow Responsiveness
Cumbersome IT starts many corporations off behind the 8-ball, and some don’t recover well. When innovation doesn’t come easily, responding to shifting business goals becomes tougher. In a digital world where technology advances rapidly and customer expectations change just as quickly, slow-moving corporations often fail to adapt. Almost 50% of projects take longer than planned. That slow responsiveness makes it difficult for the business to succeed in our fast-paced culture.
3) Lack of Digitization & Automation
Automation and digital innovations stand to provide impressive improvements for corporations. The majority of businesses haven’t felt that impact yet, however. 94% of corporations today have trouble implementing AI. Businesses must choose the right automation according to their specific business needs. With many types of automation available and connections to legacy systems difficult, The Weight of Legacy has slowed this process down. Limited budgets can make Robotic Process Automation (RPA) bots more appealing than full Artificial Intelligence (AI) projects. Every improvement integrates smoother when a full IT team isn’t needed to monitor every step of the process as well. Modern innovations will be out of the reach of many businesses until the right kind of automation and digitization is chosen and underlying infrastructure issues are remedied.
4) Data Overload
Over the last 2 years, 90% of the world’s data was created. Between social media interactions, purchase tracking, geolocation data, and more, an exponential amount of information is being created every day. This growing tsunami of data is becoming increasingly unwieldy. Corporations can see the benefit to data-driven decision-making, but with the incredible diversity of data available, it’s difficult to decide which data should be in the driver’s seat. The key to unlocking the potential of this ocean of data is the implementation of actionable insights. When businesses can untangle their complicated technology infrastructure and properly integrate automation, AI and other modern innovations can begin to sort through and present the right data to business leaders.
After years managing IT teams, I love seeing new technology implemented well and improving the way businesses operate and communicate with customers. In an ideal situation, every new addition would be fully future-proof and designed to adapt and integrate with growing needs as companies develop. Consumers have made the shift. Modern customers expect brands to offer automated solutions and leverage data to create personalized interactions. By focussing on the real problems driving many business complications, corporations can step into our emerging digital world with confidence.
Only when all four weights are lifted will corporations fully join the digital era and meet the impressive expectations of today’s consumers.
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Is Your Business Struggling Under The Weight of Legacy?
Layers of disparate departments and innovations are preventing modern corporations from adapting to the speed and flexibility of new technology
By SCOTT MATTOCKS
Corporations today feel how customer expectations are shifting. The rise of social media and other technological innovations are changing how everyone operates in our new digital world. Many businesses haven’t been able to keep up. Corporations struggle to adapt and change because of four distinct challenges, otherwise known as “The Weight of Legacy.”
These four challenges work together to drag down business’ efforts to modernize. The Weight of Legacy is smothering modern innovation.
“Large corporations struggle to adapt and change thanks to a set of four distinct challenges: The Weight of Legacy.”
1) Cumbersome IT
Many corporate IT systems have grown into a network of disparate patches and layers of disjointed solutions. Years of improvements and small changes have made connecting new platforms a massive undertaking. Simple tasks that should take a few weeks are turned into months-long projects. Executives know the pain. Upgrading old infrastructure is the goal of 64% of IT budget increases. IT lays the groundwork for the future of businesses, but many departments don’t get to leverage the full skill of their employees, instead tasking them with fixing time-zone issues or isolated platforms that don’t talk to each other.
2) Slow Responsiveness
Cumbersome IT starts many corporations off behind the 8-ball, and some don’t recover well. When innovation doesn’t come easily, responding to shifting business goals becomes tougher. In a digital world where technology advances rapidly and customer expectations change just as quickly, slow-moving corporations often fail to adapt. Almost 50% of projects take longer than planned. That slow responsiveness makes it difficult for the business to succeed in our fast-paced culture.
3) Lack of Digitization & Automation
Automation and digital innovations stand to provide impressive improvements for corporations. The majority of businesses haven’t felt that impact yet, however. 94% of corporations today have trouble implementing AI. Businesses must choose the right automation according to their specific business needs. With many types of automation available and connections to legacy systems difficult, The Weight of Legacy has slowed this process down. Limited budgets can make Robotic Process Automation (RPA) bots more appealing than full Artificial Intelligence (AI) projects. Every improvement integrates smoother when a full IT team isn’t needed to monitor every step of the process as well. Modern innovations will be out of the reach of many businesses until the right kind of automation and digitization is chosen and underlying infrastructure issues are remedied.
4) Data Overload
Over the last 2 years, 90% of the world’s data was created. Between social media interactions, purchase tracking, geolocation data, and more, an exponential amount of information is being created every day. This growing tsunami of data is becoming increasingly unwieldy. Corporations can see the benefit to data-driven decision-making, but with the incredible diversity of data available, it’s difficult to decide which data should be in the driver’s seat. The key to unlocking the potential of this ocean of data is the implementation of actionable insights. When businesses can untangle their complicated technology infrastructure and properly integrate automation, AI and other modern innovations can begin to sort through and present the right data to business leaders.
After years managing IT teams, I love seeing new technology implemented well and improving the way businesses operate and communicate with customers. In an ideal situation, every new addition would be fully future-proof and designed to adapt and integrate with growing needs as companies develop. Consumers have made the shift. Modern customers expect brands to offer automated solutions and leverage data to create personalized interactions. By focussing on the real problems driving many business complications, corporations can step into our emerging digital world with confidence.
Only when all four weights are lifted will corporations fully join the digital era and meet the impressive expectations of today’s consumers.
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