Issue link: https://insights.oneneck.com/i/1121707
oneneck.com/digital-transformation 3 Part One Building Your Digital Transformation Vision Dreaming big involves a strong understanding of the opportunities digital transformation stands to help you unlock. Planning small requires a realization of the detailed processes that will help you achieve business goals. OneNeck Business Manager Donna Knilans says the most accomplished CIOs are those who not only realize the importance of modernization, they also possess a deep knowledge of the state of their given industry and where the opportunities lie. "The CIOs who are most successful are those who are able to articulate how the investments in IT directly impact the success of the business," says Knilans. "If I'm thinking like a CIO, what I'm thinking is 'Where is the business or industry going, and what role does IT have in enabling and accelerating that path forward?'" Start with the high-level goals you know the organization is chasing. Then, determine how DX can help reach those goals. Industry expert, Jeff Budge explains in this point of view paper 5 Best Practices to Modernize and Migrate Your Applications, you also need to outline goals of your own. "Digital transformation is a huge topic and trend, with multiple dimensions that no company can possibly address all at once," Budge says. "But, that doesn't mean you can't set some reasonable goals and at least understand which aspects of digital transformation are most critical to your business." Once the goals of the company are aligned with specific DX goals, it's time to start developing your strategy. Guiding the organization through cloud migration and adapting to multi-cloud environments is one of the more common types of DX goals. Industry expert Clint Harder emphasizes the importance of combining knowledge and strategy in his point of view paper, Managing IT in a Multi-Cloud World. "Preparing for that transformation is not a quick and easy endeavor, nor one that will go smoothly without focused attention and thoughtful planning," says Harder. "Your plan should include every element of your IT environment and your business: technology, strategy, budgeting, staffing and management … it is essential to have a comprehensive cloud strategy that defines the organization's goals and motivations for moving to the cloud." Identifying opportunities, outlining goals and developing a strategy is important because you're about to leave behind the familiar world of how things used to function. As CIO, the organization will look to you for visionary leadership that helps them navigate the uncertainty that comes with change and ushers in better ways of doing business.