Architecting a successful digital transformation

Murtuza Karachiwala, Head of Technology Strategy & Performance at Mitre 10

Murtuza Karachiwala, Head of Technology Strategy & Performance at Mitre 10

For most technology professionals, the words ‘digital’, ‘transformation’ and ‘architecture’—either by themselves or in some concocted combination thereof—are all too familiar. Unlike terms in established sciences, engineering and industries like manufacturing the age of these words do not necessarily reflect a better, sharper understanding of their meaning. As the technology world evolves rapidly, the context and interpretation of each of these words only seems to become broader and more obscure.

Serendipitous circumstances, stubborn persistence and perhaps a small amount of skill have landed me with a digital transformation career of nearly 20 years. Much of that time has been spent in execution of large technology-led transformations. Yet, I know little about what digital transformations in the future will look like. Will we need humans to do things like process analysis, build capability models, migrate data or configure, test and release software? Will system integrators and consultants be obsolete job descriptions? Its not too hard to imagine a future where AI implements digital solutions for organizations.

So, here are some thoughts that a chatbot probably won’t be able to tell you about how to architect a successful digital transformation. Even though the terms become broader and obscure, and the underlying technology capabilities keep changing - a digital transformation is still going to use technology (i.e., digital capabilities) to change how an organization runs (i.e., transformation). And the most fundamental heuristics of a successful digital transformation will likely remain the same. Here are my recommendations of what architecting a successful digital transformation will need:

1. Aim at being good at design.

The key difference between a digital transformation and any other technology implementation is that a transformation changes what an organization does and how the organization runs. If you are familiar with Sinek’s Golden circle - organizations that have a clearly defined ‘Why?’ will often be good candidates to transform on ‘What?’ and ‘How?’. In a digital transformation, technology is fundamentally at the center of making that change for the organization.

In that context, one of key ingredients of a successfully executed digital transformation is a design paradigm that is connected to the organization’s ‘Why?’. Many initiatives that pose under the guise of transformation end up replicating how they run today – just with newer kit.

A successful digital transformation will always need for the organization to be good at design. Whether that’s through human centric design methods, agile iterations or traditional capability modelling and process mapping—it’s a muscle that any organization should grow before it starts the heavy lifting of a transformation.

2. Abolish your digital or technology strategy.

Technology or Digital strategies within an organization (especially those that are users, and not producers of technology) have lost their relevance. Technology and Digital delivery functions or teams in organizations only deliver solutions, data and skills that enable the business strategy. Any taxonomy that deviates from the business strategy only causes a dilution of the transformative intent. The best way to avoid implementation of technology for technology’s sake to abolish digital or technology strategies that exist as unique artefacts in many organizations. A CIO or CDO would do well to have all the other executives of the organization think of digital and technology as being a core enabler to their business strategy.

As the technology world evolves rapidly, the context and interpretation of each of these words only seems to become broader and more obscure

3. Broaden the mandate for Architecture.

Architecture has traditionally been a world of 2-dimensional shapes, often rectangles, connected with arrows. Any technology implementation professional will vouch for the criticality of the role that enterprise and solution architects play in technology implementations. Yet, a successful digital transformation demands more! The architecture skillset needs to be able to supply thought leadership, help good business design, articulate the change in the organization and tell the transformation story that everyone in the organization can understand. I’ve often described my own role as that of the ‘storyteller’ for the transformation in the organization I am part of. The only conditions placed on me is that the story needs to be non-fiction and needs to be understood by everyone. Change management, engagement and adoption of a transformed organization or process depend greatly on how well the store is told and understood.

Again, as a key muscle needed to do the heavy lifting—broadening the architecture capability to become more of an internal management consulting function will significantly improve odds for success of a digital transformation.

4. Prepare for multiple speeds.

Digital transformation professionals, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region would typically associate initiatives with long schedules, millions of dollars and long contracts with partners that promise to be experts in capabilities of the underlying technology. The issue with that though is that there is a discernible gap between the capabilities of the technology and those of the partners and organizations wanting to use them! Most technology providers now have tools and platforms that have evolved to help high speed delivery. Paradigms of low code, no code are now available across most platforms and the hope is that AI based implementations are on the horizon.

Hence, organizations hoping to deliver digital transformation in the next 3-5 years will almost necessarily need to have multi-modal, multi speed delivery models. Avoiding long contracts and avoiding waterfall projects would be a good first step. Organizations that have mature product management practices and delivery paradigms will likely be able to tackle a digital transformation agenda much better than traditional project and governance focused delivery organizations.

And if you are just about to start a major transformation initiative – maybe its best to wait for another 12 months. The most exciting stage for architecting and delivering digital transformations may be just around the corner!