IT Briefcase, USA: Associate Vice President of Cognizant’s Center for the Future of Work Says Capturing a Company’s Digital Future Means Finding the Right Talent

“When it comes to navigating the digital shift, companies are blending people, disciplines and technologies in startlingly creative ways, and with good reason: it speeds the innovation that is at the heart of digital ― and corporate ― success,” writes Euan Davis. “The question for CIOs is this: Are you prepared to radically redraw the lines of decision-making and accountability to survive the shift into the digital age?” Excerpts:

“Research reveals that traditional, rigid approaches to organizational management are quickly giving way to more fluid, connected strategies for acquiring and developing technical talent.

Looking ahead, IT executives should consider the following steps to prime their organizations and people for the digital age:

Refocus digital as a platform play. Digital platforms — software layers that gather and synthesize data — are the building blocks of success. Companies are starting to build their own platforms as engines for continuous data exchange, insight generation and value creation ― and profoundly changing the talent and skills needed both inside and outside the company.

Start leaning into a global talent pool. The industry is witnessing a global explosion of talent clusters. However, leaning into global talent pools requires organizational change. Accessing, teaming and co-creating with talent clusters typically demands a level of flexibility that complex, command-and-control organizations can’t manage.

Invest in organizational firepower for innovation. Digital is about speed, collaboration and experimentation. Command-and-control structures, elongated decision-cycles and silo-based mentalities will kill digital.

Ask yourself, is your structure really fit for purpose? Companies are beginning to reform into multidimensional teams. A successful company needs to be where the action is, and a first step is to set up a small team to experiment with this new model.

The upshot for any leader is to carefully calibrate the speed of change as digital transformations accelerate. Digital technologies and the changes they enable — new business models, revenue flows and cost structures — are redrawing industry structures and talent firms need to thrive. In an age of opportunity, fortune favors the brave.”

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