How Digital Transformation Consulting Helps Align IT and Business Objectives

Technology is constantly changing, but for many organizations, deploying the right solutions is the most straightforward aspect of digital transformation. Where organizations tend to struggle most is with the “people and processes” part of the equation. This is one of the most common reasons that organizations engage digital transformation consultants to help their IT departments reach the next level of maturity.

A partner that specializes in digital transformation can help an organization clarify its objectives — for example, data center modernization — and ensure that its IT and business departments are aligned to achieve these goals. Once we identify business objectives, we can help an organization build an IT strategy to achieve them. Organizations often lack any such strategy, let alone a comprehensive roadmap for putting that strategy into action.

Every organization has a unique set of outcomes it wants to obtain from digital transformation consulting, but a few common drivers exist across industries and maturity levels. 

For example, organizations may want to improve their business resiliency through continuity and disaster planning. IT leaders may realize their departments could be more efficient and effective, but they need a better sense of their strengths and weaknesses compared with best practices. Teams may need help to complete projects or improve the services they deliver to internal and external customers. 

As part of a merger or acquisition, an organization might use digital transformation consultants to conduct due diligence or support IT integration. Or, a new CIO might want to gain a deeper understanding of all aspects of an IT environment, from service management to financial management. Typically, IT leaders are afforded neither the time to gain perspective nor the resources to conduct an internal review effectively or take action on any weaknesses they find. 

Ultimately, all of these drivers help to advance an organization’s IT maturity — moving from a baseline level of reactivity or even chaos to a proactive, service-oriented state that dovetails with organizational priorities.

One of the most valuable services that digital transformation consultants provide is helping IT and business leaders clarify where they are and where they want to go. Very often, what leaders think they want may differ from what the organization actually needs or wants. For instance, an organization might initially be inclined to move a portion of its business services to the cloud, yet the discovery process may reveal that a hosted IT colocation is a better path to the desired end state.

Through interviews, analysis, comparison with industry best practices and evaluation against IT maturity models, we help organizations first establish a vision for where they want and need to go. Then, we develop a strategy for how to get there, with an emphasis on people and processes. 

For instance, this approach may address several important questions, such as:

• How do internal customers perceive IT department strengths? 
• How are identified weaknesses affecting the organization, and how will team members determine when they have adequately addressed those weaknesses? 
• Who has not yet bought into the desired outcomes?

We complement our advisory services with experts who have practical experience and the ability to implement necessary improvements. For many of our customers, this support is extremely valuable. It’s all too common for organizations to complete a consulting engagement only to find that they have an impressive set of recommendations without the internal expertise or capabilities to follow through. CDW advisory services provides full-stack and full-lifecycle engagements to enable organizations to realize their vision and achieve business value.

Our goal is to set up our customers for success in the long term, not only as IT departments, but as organizations capable of defining and achieving their optimal state of digital transformation.

Story by Jarrod Clark, an accomplished technology leader who has worked in the industry for more than 20 years. He brings a vast array of experience across a diverse set of infrastructure, operations and security disciplines. Jarrod has spent most of his career leading technology organizations in the financial services and higher education industries. Most recently, Jarrod was a vice president and director of infrastructure and technology for the nation’s largest mutual bank. During his career, he has driven success in the following areas: data center modernization and migration, cloud governance/adoption, remote work transformation, merger and acquisition integration, disaster recovery, process improvement and service management improvement.