Vanguard Magazine

www.vanguardcanada.com AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2021 37 Time to digitally transform Digital transformation is a critical path forward in today's economy, and IT op- timization paves the way. Organizations across industries are beginning to re- alise the need to accelerate their digital transformation to remain competitive in Canada and around the world. Defence organizations are realizing the need to ac- celerate their digital journeys to remain interoperable with allies and prepare for digital-savvy adversaries. Lagging is no longer an option. Some are struggling with a legacy IT environment clogged with non-standard applications that re- duce productivity and pose a significant business risk. In late 2020, the Department of Na- tional Defence (DND) shared a digital transformation vision for the Department outlining the criticality for today and to- morrow's defence of Canada and the need for setting a digital transformation agenda. It has an opportunity to accelerate vision into action and action at speed. There is an opportunity to manage the data as a strategic asset. Data quality, data stewardship, and data governance are fo- cus areas. A data management framework that recognizes that data needed for man- agement is different than the data needed for operations. By building this founda- tion there is an opportunity to enhance data management and governance and readiness to apply analytics to improve decision making. These underpinnings are critical to progress to big data and predic- tive analytics and ultimately, digital trans- formation. Digital transformation challenges we can overcome Organizations have common goals and are facing similar challenges: 1. Upgrading and modernizing IT infrastructure: Organizations are recognizing the need to upgrade and modernize their IT infrastructure, but they vary greatly in their prog- ress. Some organizations have a fully developed digital strategy that inte- grates cloud and new Enterprise Re- source Planning applications; others are struggling to get started. DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION November 16 & 17, 2021 bestdefenceconference.com REGISTER NOW! AN IN-PERSON EVENT! 2. Improving employee experience: Today's workforce expects personal- ized, fast services that are available any- time, anywhere. Organizations need to ensure they are receiving the informa- tion they need when they need it. This applies to governments serving citizens and defence organizations serving the women and men in uniform. 3. Acquiring and retaining new talent: COVID-19 has put incredible strain on many businesses not only in Canada but all over the world. As we begin to emerge from the pandemic, transfor- mation projects that were put on hold are being restarted, but organizations are struggling to attract and retain top talent. Meanwhile, employee expecta- tions have changed. Forward-thinking employers need to consider new flex- ible options and benefits, including managed services partnerships. 4. Increasing productivity: To success- fully deliver operations and services, organizations need to improve pro- ductivity in everything from manu- facturing to supply chains. Artificial

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