Cloud and digital transformation: Unlocking the full potential of your business (Guest blog from BBD)

Author: Tony van der Linden, CIO at BBD

Companies need to adapt quickly to new technologies, customer demands and market trends to remain competitive and relevant. One of the critical components of digital transformation is cloud computing, which has revolutionised the way businesses operate and grow – unlocking the full potential of their data, people and processes. 

While digital transformation isn’t a new concept, many companies still lag behind in their adoption of digital technologies and work practices. Some have not yet implemented these advancements at a large scale or established a culture that welcomes change, testing, and ongoing growth and improvement. Meanwhile, other organisations are in the planning stages for end-to-end transformations but have yet to move past the ideation phase. 

Digital transformation involves using technology to reimagine and reinvent core business processes from a customer-centric and operational perspective. But more than just upgrading technical infrastructure, successful digital transformation requires a shift in mindset towards re-envisioning business strategies and value propositions. It’s very much about seeing personalised and seamless customer experiences – made possible through technologies such as big data and AI – and automating processes as crucial components to maintaining an edge in the digital economy.  

It is an ongoing process that requires constant adaptation and evolution. To drive this evolution, it’s crucial to develop a clear vision for the future and gradually build the necessary technological and human capabilities to achieve it. Digital evolution involves not only implementing new technologies but also fostering a culture of innovation and continuous improvement to keep up with the rapidly changing digital landscape. 

Enabling digital evolution with the cloud 

So digital transformation is the continuous optimisation of an organisation’s business processes to increase their digital maturity in support of their strategic alignment to customer-centric goals. A successful digital transformation journey includes using technology to fundamentally evolve the way a business operates with the goal of improving efficiency, agility and competitiveness. Cloud computing is a key enabler to this as it provides a flexible and scalable platform for delivering and consuming technology services. Ultimately, cloud computing enables businesses to access an unprecedented amount of data, automate processes, and innovate faster than ever before. 

I believe that digital transformation is critical for businesses to remain competitive and relevant in today’s ever-evolving marketplace. By leveraging digital technologies, businesses can streamline processes, improve efficiency, and create new opportunities for growth. 

Two examples of where our teams have optimised business processes for our clients to aid in digital transformation are in projects for a UK-based financial services company as well as for a leading South African bank. 

Off the back of an aging system unable to cope with the current rate of scale, we stepped in to advise the UK financial company on their digital transformation journey. We initiated the project by assessing the client’s IT environment using a modified version of our systems health check approach which establishes the overall health of a system within the context of its environment. While ongoing, the project has already yielded decisive value for the client through the close collaboration and mapped out plan to align the transformation of their legacy platforms to business objectives while leveraging modern cloud approaches. 

And as a trusted partner of a leading South African bank for over 20 years, our teams worked closely with the organisation’s team to build a highly scalable platform for a specific project. The AWS cloud was used to meet project requirements while ensuring excellent digital customer experiences. By leveraging our expertise in the financial services sector and AWS, we helped the bank drive innovation and digital transformation, resulting in increased efficiency, profitability, and customer satisfaction.  

According to a study by the International Data Corporation (IDC) – a global market research and advisory firm that specialises in providing insights and analysis on the information technology and telecommunications industries – organisations that have successfully implemented digital transformation initiatives have experienced up to 2.5 times more growth in revenue, and up to two times more growth in profitability than those that have not. In addition, a study by MIT Sloan Management Review found that companies that have embraced digital transformation are 26% more profitable than their industry peers. These statistics highlight the importance of digital transformation in today’s business landscape and emphasise the need for organisations to prioritise it to remain competitive and relevant. 

Benefits of migrating to the cloud 

1. Scalability and flexibility 

With cloud computing, businesses can easily scale their IT resources up or down based on demand. Cloud providers offer a range of services and pricing models that allow organisations to customise their infrastructure and only pay for what they use. This flexibility is critical for businesses that experience seasonal spikes or sudden changes in demand, ultimately allowing them to quickly adapt to changing market conditions and customer needs. 

2. Data-driven insights 

Cloud computing enables businesses to collect, store and analyse vast amounts of data from various sources, such as social media and customer interactions. This data can provide valuable insights into customer behaviour, market trends and operational efficiency, enabling organisations to gain insights, make data-driven decisions and identify new business opportunities. 

3. Collaboration and innovation 

Cloud computing allows global collaboration and innovation with flexible tools, supporting Agile and decentralised teams. Providers offer services like virtual machines, containers, and serverless architectures for speedy experimentation and deployment of new applications. Rapid resource provisioning for servers, storage, and networking are vital benefits of cloud computing, helping companies react quickly to changes and remain competitive. 

4. Security and compliance 

Cloud providers invest heavily in security and compliance measures to protect their customers’ data and ensure regulatory compliance. Cloud providers offer a range of security features, such as encryption, access controls and threat detection, that help businesses safeguard their data and meet compliance requirements. 

5. Cloud enables new business models 

Cloud computing provides the ability to quickly and easily create, deploy and scale new services and applications. This allows organisations to rethink existing processes and business models from analogue to digital. 

Utilising a software development partner to architect, develop, deploy or even maintain your cloud services is a significant benefit as it allows companies to leverage the expertise and experience of teams that successfully help businesses achieve digital transformation. Our expertise in AWS and Microsoft Azure enables us to recommend the best solutions based on our clients’ specific business needs and current landscape, ensuring that they have the right cloud infrastructure and services to support their digital transformation goals.  

When you combine this with cloud computing as a key enabler, you reap flexibility, scalability and agility, ultimately ensuring your business can adapt to the rapidly changing market conditions and stay competitive in this digital age.  

Authors

Tony van der Linden

CIO, BBD

Tony is CIO at BBD, an international software solutions company offering custom solutions for business across the financial services, telecommunications, gaming and public sectors. Having amassed technical and domain expertise during their 40 years in business, BBD’s suite of core services includes digital enablement, software engineering, cloud, managed services and solution support. BBD employs over 1200+ highly skilled, motivated and experienced IT professionals, with hubs in the UK, Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa and India.