Stack Digital

Hear from Bevan Russell, Principal Consultant

Ben Berry-Smith picked the very knowledgeable brain of our Head of Digital, Bevan to chat about what he sees in the digital landscape.

What are some of the critical factors to consider when creating a technology strategy?

Make sure you are aligned with business intent. Get the business involved really early, linking all technology to business intent, so don't do an IT strategy in isolation. Do an overall digital strategy that enables technology to support the business strategy. To many IT strategies are technology focused and don't focus on what the business actually needs.

Don't get stuck with the reasons why you’ve done things in the past - just because you’ve done it one way in the past, doesn’t mean that is right in the future. Things change (very quickly in technology) so it’s important to review the current landscape and options, potentially get someone from the outside to facilitate those sessions.

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What emerging market trends do you see having the most significant impact on digital transformation efforts within the corporate and mid-sized sectors?

AI is going to have a big impact across all sectors and all aspects of life. I think we're at the top of the hype cycle right now and some of the claims of how much of an impact and how fast things will change might be overstated, BUT it is here and it will continue to impact our lives.

The customer expectation of speed to market / speed of change is noticeable. So the speed at which businesses respond to change is the difference between success and failure. Gone are the days of putting in a system and letting it run for 20 years. Technology roadmaps need to be laser focussed on the immediate demands, with the ability to flex quickly.

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How do you prioritise and balance the need for innovation with the requirement to maintain operational stability and security?

There are loads of ways to balance these, and it really depends on things like the size of the business, the industry, and the digital maturity of the business.

For larger business’s there is a concept of 'core system of record’, which ring fences systems that are relatively static and maybe have some technical debt. Then you innovate ‘at the edges’. This approach allows the business to decide which areas of the business they’re willing to be a little more risky and innovate on.

Security is a non-negotiable, all of these aspects need to be secure by design. This is more and more important with the growing cyber threats globally. We’re seeing a bigger focus in this area after changes in NZ legislation to push more personal liability NZ Board members.

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