Guest Blogger: Matthew Marden, Research Manager, Business Value Strategy Practice, IDC
Matthew Marden is a Research Manager on the IDC Business Value Strategy team. He is responsible for carrying out custom business value research engagements and consulting projects for clients in a number of technology areas with a focus on determining the return on investment (ROI) of their use of enterprise technologies.
From speaking with hundreds of organizations each year, IDC knows that organizations are rapidly recognizing that their ability to grow and provide superior services and products depends on prioritizing and executing a Digital Transformation strategy.
However, the progress of their digital initiatives depends on interlocking and aligning IT to business decisions, and lack of network readiness in particular can grind progress to a standstill. When network infrastructures remain fragmented, manual, and hardware-centric, they cannot deliver the agility, security or performance businesses require. This results in operational inefficiencies, intolerable risk and squandered opportunities for growth.
By contrast, IDC's research shows that organizations that have invested in digital upgrades to their networks overcome these limitations and realize significant value in the form of higher revenue and operational efficiencies. These organizations have evolved their networks to a more open, software-centric approach. They have begun leveraging automation and analytics innovations to provide the performance, agility, and security they need today and will need in the future.
Organizations interviewed by IDC that have implemented more advanced networks are already seeing the fruit of their efforts: IDC's research shows that they are improving IT and business outcomes and quantifiably improving their business results. Here are a few of the findings I found especially compelling:
So, what does this mean for you? We believe it means that you should consider whether your network is genuinely enabling your business, just keeping up with it, or becoming an obstacle to growth. In the context of deciding to make your organization's network more digital-ready to tap into the value described above, this will require taking the following steps:
You now have the opportunity to redefine the role of networking in support of your company's businesses. However, doing this will require executing on a vision that aligns network technology and capabilities with business priorities, and leveraging technologies that will make your network more open, automated, and software-centric.
I recommend IT leaders take a few minutes to begin understanding how the latest network advances can deliver business value to their organization. Read the new IDC InfoBrief here.