Digital Transformation—a jigsaw puzzle—in, and post, the pandemic

Granularity has to be embraced at an operational level and conflicts have to be sidelined if CIOs want to get ready for the ‘new normal’. Sushant Rabra, Partner KPMG tells us how wielding the right prioritization levers and making transformation a business case are caution-kits that are going to eke out true gains from any digital transformation endeavour.

Are there any conflicts (like short-term vs. long-term or customer-focused vs. internal or resilience-oriented vs. innovation-driven) that would be accentuated in digital transformation investments and efforts that enterprises will display now?

A meticulously-planned Digital Transformation exercise using matured methodologies and accelerators builds up on strategic themes like customer centricity, operation excellence, innovation etc. It is akin to the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle to deliver larger and synergistic outcomes. Even during the global pandemic situation, the key impact in such a case would be reprioritization of some of these transformational initiatives rather than managing any conflicts. A conflict typically arises if the transformation program is either based on short-term tactical aspirations and low-hanging fruits or it is simply treated as yet another IT exercise without a tangible business case.

Has the current pandemic also spurred a good audit of gaps, duplication, complexity etc. that digital transformation projects might have had?

The pandemic certainly has had an impact on organizational priorities, which is why, increasingly, many of our past and existing clients have been proactively seeking our help in performing a thorough examination, revalidation and reprioritization of Digital Transformation using our critically-acclaimed Connected Enterprise & CVRT frameworks. Such assessments help to provide continued guidance on the feasibility and tangible business outcomes as envisaged during the Digital planning phase. Given the situation, characterized by demand and supply shock, even minor tweaks in the prioritization levers can result in high impact across the enterprise value chain.

Would we see any leapfrogging—like directly jumping to high-level AI or blockchain or Quantum Computing investments?

While AI, ML, quantum computing and blockchain have been the focus for most technology consulting firms, the recent events have, most certainly, provided a larger push towards the research and implementation (working use-case) of these technologies at major client places.

KPMG has been making advances at an increased pace due to the inherent potential and proactive demand from the customers. In the past few months, we have performed major implementations and conducted PoCs across these technologies thereby delivering operational and strategic edge to our customers during these testing times.

Any other challenges that CIOs should be cognizant of? Or any trends or positive shifts that you see shaping up?

Starting with the trends first; firms have been increasingly focusing on operating in the new normal. Customer and Enterprise Digital would be the core themes that could potentially increase market traction and reduce operational overheads across most industries. Within Customer & Enterprise Digital; Digital Workplace (including enterprise collaboration), e-Commerce, Industry 4.0 and IT-OT integrations would be the areas to watch out for.

Key fallacies that the CIOs should avoid would be viewing/treating the themes as simple technology implementations rather than business-owned strategic initiatives. Moreover, the granularity of the transition architectures to operationalise these themes should be carefully defined along with an overarching change management exercise to ensure that the initiatives are implemented and widely adopted within the enterprise.