The concept of a VUCA world – one characterised by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity – used to be just that, an abstract concept. With the events of 2020, however, VUCA has gone from abstraction to reality, and the very nature of leadership challenges now revolves around: To navigate the complexity of these challenges, leaders can’t simply rely on their proven strengths and do more of what they’re good at.
Different parts of the organization often have competing priorities for cloud innovation programs. By using scenario thinking, CIOs and other company leaders can better align business goals with technical requirements and gain economies of scale across these efforts. Cloud technology can help modernize the business core, power computing infrastructures, drive data strategies, and enable transformation and innovation across sectors and industries.
Alessandro Ventura, CIO and VP Analytics and Business Services for Unilever North America, sees a distinction between digital transformation and digitization. “After a digital transformation your business is different than it was before,” he says. “Digitization, on the other hand, automates processes but does not change the substance of your business.” For Ventura, digital transformation starts with self-reflection and asking big questions—What should our business be in the future?
Data science initiatives should be integrated with the overall business strategy, and then overseen by an intermediary group that works between the company and its data scientists.
As businesses increasingly adopt AI-driven decision making , experts agree that the most interesting questions are not about whether humans can beat machines or vice versa but how the two forms of intelligence can most fruitfully collaborate – and how organisations can best facilitate those collaborations .
FedEx launched its global digital finance transformation for 220 countries and territories with a series of discussions about processes with employees in regions around the world to gain and maintain buy-in at all levels of the organization. Leading a global finance digital transformation at FedEx started with conversations with employees to understand how business processes and agility could be improved in a new cloud environment, says Vice President of Business Transformation Chris Wood.
Cyber attacks are growing exponentially and becoming more sophisticated, so companies need to increase employees’ level of cyber-risk awareness. Credit: SergeyNivens via Adobe Stock Educating employees about cyber security best practices helps organizations better protect their data and integrity.
In the last few years, organizations have begun to focus more on digital transformation – moving workloads to the cloud, deploying the Internet of Things (IoT), experimenting with artificial intelligence and data analytics, and embracing a myriad of other technologies – all to become more efficient, deliver a better customer experience and, ultimately, drive more revenue.
More than 70% of companies have now migrated at least some workloads into the public cloud, according to Gartner research. This momentum will continue as companies plan to increase their cloud adoption in the wake of COVID-19. Yet even as enterprises embrace the many benefits of the cloud, managing the cost of cloud computing is an ongoing challenge.
Twenty years ago, a group of 17 software developers changed the world. In February 2001, what came to be known as the Agile Alliance developed the Manifesto for Agile Software Development . Written over a long weekend at Snowbird, a ski resort in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, the Manifesto advocated a new approach to software—one that emphasized adaptation, action, and speed over careful planning and consideration.
Leonard, the chairman of a global consumer goods company, was wondering what to do with the two co-CEOs running the firm. While it had seemed a great idea to have two individuals at the helm, this arrangement had led to conflicts, stalled initiatives and an overall lack of direction. Some of the company’s most valued executives had left.
Adrian Butler grew up in a farm community of no more than 100 people, so when he became CIO of Casey’s General Stores, a $9 billion convenience store chain with a large rural presence, the job had real meaning for him. “Casey’s opened its first store in Boone, Iowa in 1968,” says Butler. “In many ways, the Casey’s guest is me and my family.
Transitioning to cloud is often more complex than anticipated. In some cases, for example, companies end up replicating team structures and established processes, which makes it almost impossible to capture the full scope of benefits that cloud offers.
In this episode of The McKinsey Podcast , Chris Gagnon and Elizabeth Mygatt talk about what it takes for companies to be “future ready” in the world after the COVID-19 pandemic
