digitalization in business

It is the end of an era and the beginning of another. This is an opportunity to build an entirely new world. If you are running a business and need to create guidelines for digitalization, this is my advice: think big, and think ahead.

What will a successful business look like in the future? That was the question we started with when we began to reimagine Tieto three years ago. At that point, we decided to revitalize Tieto's corporate culture under the strategic guidance of Kimmo Alkio. We saw before us a world unlike the one we were accustomed to. We realized that in order to create a vision of the future, we also needed to understand how companies would operate in the years to come.

Three years later, it is clear that replacing old technologies with new ones is a relatively small shift compared to the revolution in operating cultures and strategies required for success in the digital age. As individuals and consumers, we are quite ready to adopt new technologies and services that can help us in our personal lives. In the workplace, however, changing standard operating procedures and learning to use new tools may not always be as easy.

First and foremost, successful change requires the courage to abandon legacy operating models and think about the future as a blank slate. Digitalization should not be seen as a mere renewal or update of current business operations. On the contrary, it should be seen as a means to enable completely new operating models. Successful change requires bold, long-term thinking, considered and controlled risks, a common strategic intent and the ability to push the boundaries of your comfort zone—all of which can be quite scary.

Digitalization challenges old operating procedures and business models. While traditional businesses may find this worrisome, you should view the inevitable change as an opportunity that must be grasped immediately. The longer you wait, the more you stand to lose.

1. Changing operating environment

We believe that in the future, the world will consist of various networks or ecosystems (both terms are widely used, though we at Tieto prefer to talk about ecosystems). For these ecosystems to co-operate efficiently, you need new functional solutions that enable efficient collaboration and information sharing both within and among organisations.

These new solutions cannot be based on organisational silos, and they should enable employees to work from anywhere and with any device. The solutions should also be safe, easy to use, cost-effective and simple to maintain. At Tieto, this meant, among other things, transitioning 14 000 employees to using Google service

Digitalization can also help increase company productivity and efficiency. When companies create all-new solutions from a blank slate, they can simplify their basic IT and run it more cost-effectively. The money saved can then be funnelled into something more useful, such as creating new innovations. Companies that build their IT on top of legacy systems without questioning current models will most likely regret their decisions later. Increases in both costs and architecture complexity will limit their alternatives in the future and slow down any new initiatives.

By Msele MUSA

BAPRM 42626