Three Imperatives For Delivering Technology At Speed

EY’s Global Chief Client Technology Officer, bringing technology products to EY clients.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic started, many organizations around the world have rapidly transitioned to fully remote workforces. Luckily, as we navigate the uncertainty, we have the benefit of technologies that were not available previously.

Times of uncertainty demand technology at speed and innovation at scale, while keeping all the stakeholders at the center, from clients to employees, vendors, regulators and the general public, in order to unlock new paths to preserve business continuity and build resilience into the future.

Why The Business World Needs Technology At Speed

Unfortunately, as we begin to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, some companies have not survived, and others will follow that trend. Many organizations have made the mistake of putting technology investments and business launches on hold given the uncertainty of the past few months. It’s time to reverse that mentality.

Those who survive will have the opportunity to thrive if they fully capture their capacity to support agile growth through speed to market, through their ability to deliver and by making strategic acquisitions. Organizations that can deliver technology at speed are best positioned to grow and offer superior customer experiences in an uncertain world.

As businesses pivot to the next phase of building resilience and reframing their futures, below are three elements that have become increasingly critical to delivering technology at speed.

1. Platform-Based Delivery

Inefficient processes and the high costs therein stem from competing solutions. They are putting even more pressure on enterprises that are struggling to meet business objectives during these challenging times. An intelligent platform can accelerate service delivery through the seamless integration of cloud, data, and foundational and advanced technologies. It can solve complex and diverse business problems and is a key driver for delivering at both speed and scale.

At EY, we were able to respond quickly to help our people and our clients adapt to new ways of working with minimal disruption using our global technology and data platform. Platform-based solutions yield new ways of working and help improve agility, allowing organizations to respond to opportunities and threats in a way not possible before.

2. The Emergence Of The Citizen Developer

A platform alone does not solve the problem of speed, however. Leveraging a platform approach requires a different mindset in the business and on the technology side of an organization. Both need to evolve and work closely with the technology team, focusing on standards, reusable design, enablement and support. Here, business leaders need to take steps toward understanding technology and actively contributing to the development of applications.

There is no time to follow a serialized approach to product development; true technology transformation is about empowerment. In order to capture the market opportunity, a new role emerges — that of the citizen developer. Citizen developers understand the capability of a platform and, through the use of agreed principles, standards and low- or no-code development tools, citizen developers are capable of building their own applications.

In this new paradigm, speed can be increased as communication lines are shortened and requirements are better understood.

3. The Ecosystem As The Flywheel

The importance of the ecosystem is well documented. Every organization understands its value and operates within its own network of relationships with third parties. However, in the technology world, these relationships are often downgraded to commercial and transactional objectives. The ecosystem is not just about a collection of trading partners, but more about the mechanism used to create additional capacity where one in-house solution needs to be extended or where a new capacity is lacking.

This shift in relationship, from transactional to true collaboration, requires the design and implementation of an operating model where success is defined by common goals. For example, working with a services organization requires each company to have a deep understanding of the other’s business models and outcomes, while working with a cloud provider requires an alignment of infrastructure costs with business outcomes.

It’s time to move beyond looking at technology as a means to just efficiency. This trend will continue for companies aiming to deliver long-term value. As the business world looks to emerge from the other side of the pandemic, it will be about creating and shaping a new future and reimagining what’s possible. Unlocking hidden potential and realizing new opportunities through technology at speed is ultimately instrumental in rebuilding the working world.

Getting started choosing a technology solution that suits your unique needs can be tricky, but it’s increasingly necessary to prioritize the speed and scalability of your technology, no matter the size or makeup of your organization. If you consider the three elements outlined here when choosing technology to implement — platform-based solutions, citizen development tools and the importance of the ecosystem — you’ll be able to thrive in the working world of the future.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the global EY organization or its member firms.

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