A new blueprint for success in the digital age is emerging. The same technical foundations that have propelled technology companies to become the most valuable corporations in the world are making their way into other types of organizations – even ones that didn’t previously think of themselves as technology-centric. As formerly physical assets become digital and as pricing moves from one-off transactions to subscriptions, major shifts occur not only to those assets, but also to the business models of those providing them. Economies once dominated by manufacturing have become centered on services.
Of course, every organization will be affected by these shifts at different rates, and as a result, every business’s digital transformation ‘journey’ will be unique; it will greatly depend, among other things, on an individual firm’s size, age, skill set, legacy and target market. The constraints, expectations and opportunities open to a startup or hyperscale cloud provider are radically different from those of a 40-year-old ISV, infrastructure specialist or IT services company.
Regardless of where they came from, or how long they have been around, all organizations will succeed or fail based on their ability to embrace change in an era of unprecedented IT innovation, and service providers will play a critical role in easing that transition. Right now, that innovation agenda is dominated by technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML); the Internet of Things (IoT) and edge computing; and DevOps and containers, but this will continue to evolve over time.
For digital transformation to truly meet its potential, infrastructure needs to become invisible, with service providers – both inside and outside the IT organization – competing on their ability to deliver an ‘invisible experience’ that focuses on delivering outcomes and service levels across a range of off-premises and on-premises resources. The 2019 Hosting & Cloud Transformation Summit (HCTS) will focus on how service providers can increasingly deliver that invisible experience and empower the digital revolution.
