Redesigning the information system: a mandatory step to ensure its successful digital transformation?
What does it really mean for a company to successfully transform itself into a digital company? Not much because the company has been transforming and modernizing for 30 years, its information system has never stopped evolving with the new technologies. And this evolution will never stop. "From my point of view, digital transformation is simply the new terminology of the moment which, in the end, always goes along with the company modernizing itself and creating value for its customers, but also internally for the well-being of employees," says Serge Masanovic, founding partner of VCM Conseil.
Companies must transform themselves
What is most worrying today is the speed at which this transformation is taking place. In today's ultra-automated, ultra-high-volume and ultra-connected environment, information flows in real time and, more precisely, in this field, not all companies are ready. Some professional sectors are even in a dead end, such as taxis, traditional trade and hotels, which are facing this ubiquitous use. Airbnb and Uber, two companies created in 2008 and 2009 respectively, have since become global giants. They have not used outdated existing approaches and processes but have created new rules of the game by pushing the boundaries set by historical industries, betting on a new customer experience and exploiting the value of the data collected daily. This is where digital transformation makes sense, companies must transform themselves, disrupt themselves to integrate into this new connected global economy. But to do so, companies are dependent on the quality of their IT, data center and information system to manage their development processes and strategic activities. "To make an analogy with chemistry, the information system, which was once seen as a block of ice, has become liquid and now gaseous, it spreads everywhere like the Cloud. As Didier Lambert, Essilor Group's CIO, said, the real company is now being combined with a virtual company," says Serge Masanovic.
The obstacle of the obsolete IS
And in this field, the CIO can position himself as a leader in the digital transformation of his company under several conditions. He must bring the business lines closer to the CIO, convince the company's managers (see box), adopt new tools to break silos (Cloud services, creation of service catalogs, mobile apps, automation and data analysis tools) and exploit intelligent technologies (machine learning, connected objects, enhanced reality, etc.).
In conclusion, this new information system must provide companies with more value for their services. This is exactly the logic that Victoria Group, a small business with 250 employees specializing in industrial, petroleum and maritime cleaning, has followed on its own scale. To quickly absorb the transfer of all information, especially that from its ERP, without forgetting the mobility issues, Victoria Group, via its integrator Thalie, has renewed its core network by migrating to 10 Gbit/s, but has also deployed a more efficient and secure wireless network as well as a backup and replication system connected in fiber. In short, for many projects related to digital transformation, the redesign of an often obsolete IS is a mandatory step.
Source: Le Monde Informatique / January 2017 / Adthink Media and IDG Corp