How to support cloud and digital transformation? Build an agile company

The cloud is designed to be agile. Its versatile platform allows your business to respond quickly to changes in the market and embrace digital transformation. But for cloud to work effectively you need more than just the right technology – you need the right culture. ‘To support this rapid, iterative optimisation of our business the internal organisations that staff, fund, manage, and reward our people need to exhibit that same level of agility,’ writes Jeff Gothelf in the Harvard Business Review. Here are three ways you can build an agile company culture that supports the cloud, so you can get the most out of your digital transformation.

1. Share a common vision

Digital transformation is like rowing a boat; if one person is rowing in the opposite direction, it makes hard work for everyone else. Likewise, you won’t be able to push forward with the cloud if you’re faced with resistance from a few uncommitted employees. To ensure everyone is on the same page, you need a shared vision that they can believe in. ‘This common vision,’according to PwC, ‘enables businesses to develop flexible organisational designs, adaptive management techniques, and efficient operations.’

2. Abolish the hierarchy

Not entirely, of course, but loosening the reins to give employees more decision-making power will drive your business forward. The agile methodology is founded upon making small but important decisions quickly so you can make progress. While the decision may not always be the right one, because the changes are smaller it’s easier to backtrack than if you wait months for a decision to come through several layers of management.

3. Make it a business goal

‘Future innovations are not limited to technology and product development,’ says Yang Yuanqing, Chairman of Lenovo Group, ‘but more importantly, they are driven by the business model.’ For the cloud and digital transformation to be adopted across the entire business, it must become ingrained in all your processes, not just one small silo. Someone has to be the champion that drives this integration forward and ensures that the agile methodology becomes a core part of your business operations.

Process first, technology second

‘If you are building a service-oriented architecture, you can do it just from an IT perspective, and that’s an interesting exercise,’says George Glass, chief architect at BT Design. ‘But if you do it as part of a business transformation, and you start becoming an agile enterprise, you can really start to leverage the benefit.’ Traditional approaches have held big businesses back, allowing their competition to jump ahead. Infrastructure in the cloud enables teams to achieve transformation with agility, allowing for business innovation and, ultimately, growth. Embracing the cloud and digital transformation has the potential to push you far ahead of the competition, but it all starts with an agile culture. If you'd like to learn more about creating an agile company culture, contact us here