Transforming IT to achieve digital transformation

Digital transformation has become a top priority for many organisations in the Middle East. GCC member states invested $15 billion in digital transformation initiatives in 2018, according to a Huawei and Deloitte report. Meanwhile, IDC estimates that the Middle East, Turkey and Africa combined to spend more than $20 billion on digital transformation initiatives in 2018, and the researcher predicts regional spending on such initiatives will surpass $40 billion by 2022.
Despite those investments, digital transformation continues to challenge many Middle East businesses. In fact, the Dell Technologies Digital Transformation Index reveals that 90 per cent of businesses in the UAE and Saudi Arabia face significant roadblocks to their digital transformation initiatives today.
To break through those roadblocks, IT departments need to refine and in some cases, reinvent themselves. Below, we'll take a look at the four key areas today's IT departments need to master in their pursuit of digital transformation in the cloud era.

Integrate data and applications
IT departments have traditionally been focused on integration, but the object of that focus was network infrastructure. IT teams made sure firewalls, routers, hubs, switches, servers, clients, and other network equipment worked together seamlessly across local and wide area networks and the Internet.
Today's IT teams still need to handle infrastructure integration. But when it comes to cloud-driven digital transformation, integrating data and applications takes priority. In addition to the packaged and custom applications and databases running on premises, companies are increasingly turning to the cloud for sales, marketing, and other front-office and back-office business services.

Enforce cybersecurity
Digitial transformation projects often bring together many new, unfamiliar technologies. In the rush to get the projects done, security is often overlooked - especially when the projects do not involve the IT department. IT professionals need to put a stop to such oversights. They need to establish and enforce a consistent approach to security, defining and applying policies for
. Secure authentication to ensure users can securely yet easily move between their applications
. Fine-grained access controls to ensure users have appropriate privileges for their applications
. Auditing and compliance to ensure users comply with government, industry, or company-specific regulations and mandates
. Endpoint management to ensure desktops, laptops and devices do not become entry points for phishing, ransomware, or other malware attacks

Go cloud-native
The benefits of software-as-a-service (SaaS) are driving a lot of digital transformation initiatives. SaaS projects typically provide lower upfront costs, faster set up and deployment, easier upgrades, and better accessiblity and scalability compared to their on-premises counterparts. Because the SaaS app is developed, deployed, maintained for them, IT teams no longer handle hardware infrastructure and infrastructure support while they need fewer resources to handle on-going development and management.
Now, cloud-native takes SaaS to the next level, providing an approach to very quickly develop and deploy applications in the cloud. In many cases, the speed and ease of developing an application in Amazon, Google, or another public cloud will let cloud-native early adopters eat away at the lead established by SaaS early adopters.

Set up systems of intelligence
Historically, companies have charged their IT departments with building systems of record, which are big, backend ERP systems, CRM systems, and other databases that store company-related information. Over the past decade, IT teams have taken those systems of record and opened them up, making them accessible via systems of engagement such as the Web, chat and mobile.
Now, IT teams are being asked to introduce a new layer that goes beyond aggregation and access to offer intelligence. These new systems of intelligence are highly-focused analytical systems intended to solve business challenges and achieve company objectives.
Systems of intelligence change the way users interact with systems of record and systems of engagement. For instance, an AI-powered, conversational intelligent assistant can take voice or chat input and then execute commands via natural language processing or text processing. Using machine learning, the assistant can even execute additional, relevant commands without user intervention.

For IT professionals, systems of intelligence will require an understanding of AI in general, an understanding of how AI can help in IT in particular, and an AI strategy for the tools they're using and for raising overall services levels.

Digital transformation diligence
There's no shortcut to digital transformation. In fact, many businesses in the Middle East and elsewhere have yet to achieve the transformations they pursue. But the benefits make the pursuit worth the effort. And IT teams that diligently develop expertise in the four areas above will help lead their organisations to successful digital transformation and business success. 
 
The writer is president of ManageEngine. Views expressed are his own and do not reflect the newspaper's policy.