Transformation, Cloud, Digital…all sound a bit familiar now? Once again, the technology industry has some new themes to latch on to and once again we feel a little bombarded by them. So, what does Digital really mean for our businesses, and how do we really take advantage of it and ride the wave?

Without a doubt, the revolution is upon us and significant change is happening right now. Gartner (Hyperscale Cloud Providers to Increase Market Dominance April 12 2018) predicts, “By 2021, hyperscale providers will account for nearly 70% of the market, up from 50% in 2016.” Forrester (Forrester’s 10 Cloud Computing Predictions For 2018) adds, “Amazon Web Services, Google, and Microsoft will capture 76% of all cloud platform revenue in 2018.” Who would have thought a mere 10 years ago that the world’s major corporations would be putting critical workloads in the public cloud and increasingly relying on the Internet as a means of connecting to it?

So, what does this all really mean? CIOs see the opportunity, the business wants the agility to deliver modern user experiences, end users are demanding modern workplace experiences, and customers have more choice than ever before. Indeed, Jeff Bozos recognises that “Our customers are loyal to us right up until the second somebody offers them a better service.”

However, the utopia of DigiClouds is not without its challenges. The marketing machines of the tech industry are in top gear and would have us believe that it’s a straightforward shift to transform our workplace, workloads and, ahem, work, in their cloud. Indeed, if you are just starting out, it’s great. A brilliant idea can steal market share in weeks, but for established businesses a little more is needed.

In this world of Big Data, surely we can be a little more precise and understand the real value a bit better? Reputation, relevance, growth and even survival are the real business focus, as competition can come from anywhere in this world of cloudification and it comes fast.

The ability to transform is well recognised, but the reasons to do it go beyond cool tech, ability and limitless scale. Understanding customer requirements is the key, as is the motivation to serve customers better and deliver a meaningful user experience that is of direct relevance to their requirements, that consumes Digital and consumes Cloud, but that applies the tools to their exacting requirements.

Once we understand the customer, the pieces fall into place, and we have unprecedented access to the technology to make truly unique customer experiences happen. Addressing your customers’ ambitions, understanding the end customer and generating unique personal interactions, be they digital or good old analogue (the art of interacting!), can position you in conversations that generate tangible, valuable outcomes.

The ecosystem to “do” things is immense. The partnerships we can pull together make most things possible, but just “Digital” is not the answer. Our approach is to generate meaningful engagements that help organisations understand their customers and help them apply their unique and powerful capabilities to address those needs.

Simon Farr
Guest Blogger, our newest Associate