How Transforming Technology Improves Shareholder Value

The Changing IT Landscape 

We’re at a point where technology is evolving and adapting faster than ever. Many studies share compelling insights, including the World Economic Forum’s Technology Tipping Points and Societal Impact report.

Consequently, the role of technology in business is fundamentally changing. Where previously it was a frustrating necessity - slow to react and a constraint to strategic objectives - we’ve entered an era of technology as an enabler, facilitating organisations to adapt, innovate and grow.

The historical perceptions of IT as an overhead are also changing. There’s value in the technical maturity of an organisation. Today, some of the best-known brands and wealthiest entrepreneurs centre on, or are driven by, the latest technologies.

Analysing the threats to established businesses and organisations over the past decade, technology has - and continues to play - a massive role disrupting those who fail to keep pace. For examples, look to the retail sector: Blockbuster, Toys R Us, BHS, Maplin, Homebase and House of Fraser. Over the same period, their competitors enjoyed massive growth, predominantly down to their ability to use technology to adapt their business models and services.

The success of the competition isn’t just about online shopping - it includes ease of access to services, tailored experiences, intelligent marketing and brand building via social media. Less noticeably, but equally importantly, are the benefits of a modern, innovative working environment in attracting top talent.

What Does All This Mean for You?

Well, it means the value of your business, or the reputation of your organisation if you’re in the public sector, is heavily determined by:  

• Infrastructure health, flexibility and agility - are you running current versions of your services and applications? Running dated versions is bad practice, yet all too common. Are they unpatched or constrained by poor networking and bandwidth? Are they easily scalable and utilised efficiently? Physical assets have a finite life-cycle and, together with non-consumption based licensing and internally maintained infrastructure, devalue an organisation. IT also has a habit of sweating assets, which can heavily influence the perception of value.

• Identity sources and access management - many organisations don’t set things up strategically, so often new services, e.g. an HR system, have a separate login. Ideally, your users should access all your services as one identity, relevant to their role and position in your organisation. And for leavers, there’s one point of disablement. A single source of identity allows better integration and collaboration between services, robust control and simpler management of the estate. Less maintenance overhead is required and growth, mergers and acquisitions are more straightforward.

• Data Management - what data? Is it structured? Is it understood? What are the gaps in the data hiding? Is it analysed to inform decision making, improve processes etc.? Are the insights taken from the data accurate? To many investors, poor data maturity is viewed like an incomplete balance sheet. Read tips on data integration for enterprise applications.

• Ability to respond to business requirements - how quickly are requests met? Are applications developed and iterated? Embracing technology such as containerisation and methods like DevOps are paramount.

• Security - have you identified the value of your data and is it  appropriately protected? Have you implemented modern threat detection, firewalls, data rights management, backup and recovery? A business that’s susceptible to data breaches is essentially devaluing itself.

Ocean Tomo, an intellectual property merchant bank, offers a revealing Study of Intangible Asset Market Value. It identified that, in the space of 20 years, shareholders stopped concentrating on tangible assets, which at one point accounted for 83% of an organisation’s market value.

Now shareholders take a strategic approach to valuation, which includes how organisations are embracing technology, their flexibility and agility. Consequently, 87% of market values are made up of non-tangible assets, such as intellectual property, customer satisfaction, brand awareness and perception.

Realising Change With Adaptive Technology   

It’s more than adopting consumption-based IT models; it demands cultural change. It’s about embracing the user and customer experience, reinventing how services are delivered, rethinking operational models and redefining strategy in the boardroom.

On your own, transforming your technology is a lot to take on. This is where IT Lab and our blueprint for transformation – an Adaptive Technology Model helps. It’s your set of keys to modernisation, integration, and seamless operations.

For more information, reach out to us through our contact page.