How Digital Transformation is Rewriting IT and Business Roles

Business decision-makers and IT leaders from a large cross-section of organizations have said that it is their own roles that have been the most impacted by digital transformation. Here, we shed some light on these findings.

A strange dissonance between business and IT in effect of these changes have been found: IT said they were dealing with the pressure of having to perform at a quicker pace over increased workloads, while business leaders found their new roles allowed a greater degree of freedom to experiment and innovate.

On the surface, this would indicate that business is beginning to expect more of IT and relinquishing the responsibility of delivering optimal results. But it really is not as simple as it looks. Over half of those interviewed revealed that they genuinely feel a lack of technical expertise, and this hinders their ability to leverage the opportunities presented by digital transformation. On the other hand, barely a third of the IT decision makers believe they need to improve their technical knowledge.

Three-fourths of the respondents belonging to both these groups agreed that there is the requirement for better communication skills is very high. Two-thirds said they needed skills that are better suited to team work across functions and which could drive transformational change more effectively. Still, only half the IT executives viewed leadership skills and coordination across teams as crucial.

The question that becomes imperative to address now is if business decision-makers are emerging as a new and empowered category with freedom to innovate, are we witnessing the end of the era for traditional IT roles? Perhaps. But it is also time for IT to transform into a strategically functioning department that can make a significant difference at a leadership level. The successful CIO must drive this transformation actively for IT. They must engage effectively with business to weave business strategy together with IT governance. Business transformation is, after all, tech-driven.