BrainBlog for vFunction by Jason Bloomberg
Enterprises have been implementing digital transformation initiatives for over a decade, but even now, most of those efforts fall short. What gives?
Digital leaders frequently focus the effort on software. Software, however, is not the point of digital transformation. Such transformation is indeed software-powered, but even more so, it is customer-driven.
Customer-driven change as broad as digital transformation is difficult and risky. More often than not, the organization’s software efforts aren’t up to the task.
Instead of focusing digital efforts solely on software, organizations must adopt change as a core competency. Digital transformation represents ongoing, transformative change across the organization, not just its software initiatives.
Architecture is at the Center of Digital Transformation
Nevertheless, software must power the transformation — and if software fails to deal well with change, then the organization will fail as well.
Technical debt, therefore, can become the primary roadblock to digital transformation – the ball and chain that impedes software change, and with it, the organization’s broader digital transformation efforts. As a result, digital transformation raises the bar on resolving technical debt. No longer is such debt solely an IT cost concern. It now impedes digital transformation broadly – and with it, the organization’s competitive advantage.
Digital transformation success depends upon resolving issues of technical debt beyond software itself. Such debt, after all, includes obsolete ways of thinking and doing things, not just obsolete code.
The missing element that links software to these broader business transformation concerns is architecture.
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