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'Do not be wedded to a single provider, work with an ecosystem of providers’

'Do not be wedded to a single provider, work with an ecosystem of providers’

IDC lays out new ways to work with tech providers as Kiwi firms ramp up digitalisation programmes

Ensure the agreements you form with your providers are responsive to your ability to change.

Adam Dodds, IDC

The majority (74 per cent) of Kiwi businesses already have their executive teams involved in shaping digital strategy, according to a new survey by IDC New Zealand.

IDC’s New Zealand IT Services Ecosystem Study notes the foundation for the digital success of local firms is largely attributed to a proactive role taken by executives in establishing technology strategy and prioritising investment towards business outcomes.

This signifies the early stage formation of an organisation's digital leadership team, says Adam Dodds, IDC ANZ research director for channels, alliances and cloud brokerage.

This involvement is critical for advancing an organisation's ability to compete in a digital economy, he adds.

“These roles differ from the traditional C-Suite, and are reflective of the future model of operations,” Dodds points out. “These leaders can see the importance of strong digital governance and management through prioritisation and risk management.”

However, despite New Zealand excelling at adoption of digital in comparison to other countries in the APeJ region, when it comes to governance and management of "as a service" or outcome-based commercial models across the supply ecosystem, local organisations are still playing catch up.

This is important as the key to success in a digital economy is to offer such consumer services, solutions and products that can be used by organisations on demand basis, he says.

NZ firms are highly aspirational in their intent to have optimised cloud strategies within 24 months which implies ‘cloud first’

Adam Dodds, IDC

His advice for organisations in the year ahead?

“Do not be wedded to a single provider,” Dodds tells CIO New Zealand.

”Be wedded to an ecosystem of providers that are committed to you as a customer, how you want to do business and most importantly a willingness to work collaboratively with each other.

“Equally, ensure that the agreements you form with your providers are responsive to your ability to change and this means that there is an allowance for these providers to have resources dedicated to participating in your business strategy development and execution process.”

IDC says more than 300 business leaders were interviewed for the survey.

The survey, now on its 15th year, also cites the importance of having a business focused prioritisation of investment in information management and customer centric based solutions.

IDC says this will translate into a greater investment focus on integrating the data to create analytical insights, and thus achieve greater customer personalisation and business value.

The survey finds hybrid/multi-cloud has the highest overall market investment from a services perspective.

“New Zealand firms are highly aspirational in their intent to have optimised cloud strategies within 24 months which implies ‘cloud first’,” says Dodds.

“This ambition is leading to a rise in the demand not only for tools to orchestrate hybrid and multi-cloud portfolios, but also for external professional services to migrate workloads and align with an ‘as-a-service’ style of commercial terms.

New Zealand organisations are also becoming more aware of the provider capabilities as well as what service excellence should look like.

With an eye to underpinning the needed level of digital change, most local firms show a preference for a multi-provider strategy with only 30 per cent of the market favouring a single-provider sourcing strategy, says Dodds.

“New Zealand organisations are comfortable with multi-sourcing from a provider perspective. This means that consultancy-based discrete service providers are preferred over a single-provider strategy as it more comprehensively reflects organisations' unique requirements, their level of technical and digital maturity, and the areas of business they wish to fulfill internally."

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Tags multi-sourcingchange managementIDCC-Suitecustomer experience managementecosystemstrategic alliancescustomer focuscxIDC New Zealanddigital platformsAdam DoddsDX

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