.By Gert Koekemoer, Head of Enterprise Architecture at Altron System Integration.

Not many people fully grasp the magnitude of a digital transformation exercise. It is a complete framework, a fundamental redesign of the architecture of an organisation and not just about moving data to the cloud, which is, of course, one important step to consider. Key to helping businesses navigate this journey is showing them industry-specific digital reference architecture so that they can superimpose their current reality and wishlist onto industry best practice. 

Many different scholars and organisations have and continue to write about digital transformation, but the recurring theme is that it is complex and involves as many as 77 unique but interrelated steps across three tiers, namely transformation for customers, partners and employees.  Understood this way, it is evident that every aspect of the journey, from the front office to the middle office and back office, must be carefully considered, curated and executed because one change in any one of those environments affects everything else. 

Just because there are 77 steps in a complete digital transformation journey, it doesn’t mean every step needs to be taken and at the same time. This is where an expert system integration partner is invaluable. 

A skilled partner can analyse and understand the gap between the current and dream state and then assist a Business to design a roadmap, 100% aligned to the Business’s unique context, budget and wishes, to get from now to where the business wants and needs to be. This, simply explained, is the digital transformation roadmap, and as mentioned earlier, can occur in a modular manner as long as it is true to the roadmap.

However, not all businesses fully understand where they currently are on their digital transformation journeys, nor do they have a thorough understanding of where they need to aim towards, and why. This is why a digital reference architecture that is tailored to specific industries is so important. 

A systems integration expert such as Altron Systems Integration (ASI) has spent thousands of hours analysing and working within industries and can present exactly what a reference should be for industry best practice and trends. 

One of the key differentiators of this approach is that it affords the customer a bird's eye view to engage with a partner on specific elements each year depending on their time and budget constraints for the period. Faced with the reference architecture, they can see exactly how and where to prioritise efforts to ensure the business not only embarks on necessary change but also keeps up with competitors. 

Of course, none of this is possible without a partner that is uniquely qualified to guide a business along the journey. As alluded to, this is not a one-trick pony but rather a long and beneficial partnership and so businesses should seek out partners who are not only prepared to but want to walk the long journey, every step of the way.

Naturally, this requires the partner to have a robust capability model, and this is where we at ASI have gone over and beyond - we bring a wealth of technical expertise and experience from within ASI, but also from within the broader Altron group, in addition to an ecosystem of partners with various capabilities to ensure that we can, with confidence, be that single point of reference for a customer’s entire digital transformation journey. This is the way the industry is evolving.

When seeking out a partner, businesses would do well to seek those who speak solutions and not products, those who understand the modular but highly interwoven nature of a digital transformation exercise, those who have at their disposal highly relevant and compelling digital reference architectures for the business’s unique industry, and those that have a robust and tested capability model.