So, digital is complex, people are complex, the way users interact with brands is becoming more complex and transforming your organisation to bring value to your users is, guess what, complex!
You will need to build a foundation that supports your long-term vision, a solution that doesn’t meet these needs may mean having to start all over again. There are a number of things that you have to take into consideration and we have highlighted just four key topics to consider.
The first truth that needs to hit home is that legacy IT is not going away and you will need to figure out a way of getting these legacy systems to talk to the new services you will be pulling in. The most common approach is to wrap your legacy systems in shiny new modern APIs. This means that as you evolve you can turn off the old systems one by one, as you find new alternatives.
The second truth is that you now have way more data to deal with than you can possibly imagine. Just entering into the space of analysing social data is a minefield in itself with 110 million different sites generating Zettabytes of data. It’s a complex thought to even think how are you going to share and/or integrate customer data across the board? The Internet of Things has only just started, McKinsey predicts it will be a global market worth up to $11trillion by 2025. So, boom, time for business. However, the same report quickly follows up with this line: “Our central finding is that the hype may actually understate the full potential.” System issues such as interoperability must be squared, it says.
Number three is now that you have all that data, where are you going to put it? Are you going to go for an on-premise solution? Cloud? What laws and restrictions are in place about where you can store customer data and how does that data flow? What have you got in the way of automated provisioning?
Finally, now that you are storing all that sensitive and highly valuable information, how are you going to keep it secure? Following the attack on Sony in late 2014 there have been a number of high-profile ransomware attacks which just proves how persistent hackers can be. With more connected devices from connected cars to baby monitors, it opens up more opportunities and more potential weak points. Security is often recognised as the area for most investment within listed companies and there is a reason for that. It is crucially important to get this right in order to give your users the confidence that you have their best interests at heart.
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