Pay Down Tech Debt While Investing in a Digital Future

If you’ve ever pondered a major remodel or a move after living in the same house for a few decades, you know the feeling of being overwhelmed. Where do you start? How long will it take? What will it look like when you’re done (will it ever be done)? Perhaps most importantly, what do I toss out immediately, what do I need to keep for the near term, and what is necessary for the day-to-day operations of the house?

These are the same feelings CIOs and CTOs face as they begin the journey of transforming their company to adopt a modern, agile digital technology strategy.

Most mature, successful organizations have experienced many technology-fueled paradigm shifts. What’s interesting about the shift we’re currently experiencing is that it is accelerating and becoming predictable. What I mean by predictable is that we are now at a point where it is clear that we are not going through a single, monolithic change, as with past waves such as client-server, web or mobile, but rather continuous waves of innovation. The implications are that CIOs and CTOs now need to design their digital transformation to re-tool their technology organization for agility and nimbleness to keep pace with the market.

A company that has been successful for decades has a legacy estate that reflects the accomplishments and scars of navigating these prior waves of change in support of the evolution of their business – new products, channels, markets, partners, M&A, etc. This footprint represents the totality of the technology decisions and debt amassed throughout their journey. 

The complexity of these journeys will be far greater than those of a digital native, born in the age of digital technologies and strategies that provide competitive advantage in the market. These technologies have been well chronicled: a flexible cloud-based computing platform, agile, iterative techniques for delivering new apps and services, powered by automation, such as DevOps.  These environments include integrated analytics and machine learning to leverage the treasure trove of data exhaust that digitally engaged environments create. For legacy IT, which has been focused on developing faster, more efficient systems of record, the digital future is about building more responsive and intelligent systems of engagement.

The elements of a digital strategy and infrastructure are the same regardless of the age or type of business. Where you start this journey; what you intend to achieve; and how you balance the immediate and long-range needs of your business and customers is the challenge, and one that has taught us a great deal in the process of helping hundreds of companies across many industries.

Be clear on the reason and goals for your digital transition

Whether you’re a 50- or a 10-year old company, systemic change is costly in terms of capital, productivity, talent and lost market opportunity. Executives need to strike the right balance across the immediate needs of enabling systems of engagement and modernizing systems of record.

You need to do the math and make sure your digital transformation strategy adds up. You’re undertaking a digital transformation to gain a competitive advantage but if you run out of resources midway or the process unduly hampers your company, you need to consider a more moderate path.

There are three basic reasons companies embark on this journey:

Have a holistic strategy

Too often the focus is on the technology, which in our experience is not the most challenging part of this journey. Developing a holistic strategy is the first step and should cover these key elements:

The advantages of modern digital infrastructures and technologies are profound. It’s a competitive imperative that companies must embrace no matter how overwhelming or painful. But it’s not simply a technology problem; it’s a journey to remake your business so it operates at an accelerated pace, with much greater market and customer insight and with the ability to respond and address these insights rapidly. 

These are strategic and organizational issues that cannot be addressed by your IT department alone. They require an examination of where your business is today, what you need to keep your revenue and profits flowing, what your market will look like in three to five years, and what you need to do to stay ahead of that curve. Technology is the enabler of this change, the engine if you will, but the road map requires a deep understanding of your industry and your company and a high degree of thoughtful planning and preparation.

John Crosthwait is Global Technology Consulting Lead for Accenture's  Communications, Technology and Media Operating Group, looking after the Technology Advisory and Applications & Architecture Advisory Business Practices.