Business experts have long debated whether the future will belong to those with the brightest management team, the best culture or the most adaptable strategy. Increasingly, it looks like the future will belong to those with the most capable digital implementations.

By T.C. Doyle

For the first time in history, global spending on information and communications technology (ICT) is expected to top $5 trillion this year. That’s nearly as much as the entire GDP of Japan, the world’s third-largest economy. It’s also more than twice the size of the global market for agriculture.

It’s a huge sum, in other words.

Of that massive outlay, a larger amount with each passing year is going to digital transformation initiatives. In 2020, spending on digital transformation totaled $1.31 trillion. In 2022, the figure is expected to increase to $1.78 trillion.

The global pandemic, of course, accelerated spending on digital transformation. In a survey, IBM found that 59% of customers were accelerating digital transformation projects as a result of Covid-19. McKinsey & Co. similarly found that Covid-19, “pushed companies over the technology tipping point” in 2020 and 2021, transforming business forever.

Companies are not only spending more in digital innovation, they are also doubling down on how they use, depend and leverage it, too. As Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella put it in a 2020 earnings report to Wall Street, “We’ve seen two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months.”

Which brings us to where we are today.

Were now entering a post-pandemic world in which one central truth is emerging when it comes to business: While many thought leaders have debated whether the future will belong to those with the brightest executive management team, the best culture or the most adaptable strategy, it increasingly looks as though the future will belong to those with the most capable digital implementations. To quote McKinsey Digital from May 2021, “The Covid-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed the pace of business, and the companies with superior technology capabilities are winning the race.”

The Superior Capabilities That Matter Most

So what are those capabilities and how are organizations putting them to use? We at Impartner have some answers — and not just about our part of the market. Consider what one of our customers, a global manufacturer of high-tech testing gear and software, said recently: “When it comes to automation, we’ve entered a time when there can be no tolerance for sub-optimization. To prevail today, you need a world-class tech stack that optimizes every aspect of your business.”

We couldn’t agree more.

While Impartner offers a tech stack devoted to partner automation, we are passionate advocates for tech stack modernization across all aspects of an organization — from finance to product development, from human resources to go-to-market activities, and everything in between. We simply believe organizations that automate their operations to the fullest extent possible will find themselves in the best position possible to provide employees, customers, partners and other constituents unrivaled experiences.

What do we mean by, “automate to the fullest extent possible?” In short, we mean modernization without gaps, lapses or frailties. More specifically, we mean embracing technology and implementing it in such a way that your organization can leverage the following:

• Integrated platforms that support multiple applications and tools
• Intelligently designed interfaces that surface relevant data and information in a “single-pane-of-glass”
• “Opinionated software” developed around proven best practices
• Common data sets that can move information simply and securely between platforms and without compromise

Here’s a closer look at what we mean.

Integrated platforms that support multiple applications and tools

Since tech companies began bundling their technologies together, there has been widespread disagreement as to whether it is better to invest in best-of-breed tools or instead go with integrated platforms that may not excel in any one area but whose sum is greater than what you would expect from individual parts. In a world where only a handful of capabilities were automated, that was a worthy debate. It’s not in the world of today in which everything is automated and connected. Things must work together, in other words. But this reality creates complexity for many organizations that have literally bought one of everything over the years.

A better way? Invest in integrated platforms that accommodate many capabilities and create a way — think APIs, marketplaces, etc. — to embrace even more digital innovation.

Intelligently designed interfaces that surface relevant data and information in a “single-pane-of-glass”

Given the speed of business today, customers and partners do not have time nor inclination to endure friction when it comes to gathering information, ordering products, providing feedback and more. They want single single-on, device and operating platform independence, and simple authentication. They have also had their fill with software upgrades, incompatibilities and digital-rights issues that impede work. When it comes to the tasks they must complete and the objectives they must achieve, workers want their technology to aid them, not thwart them. They also want screens personalized to their work cycles and workflows. This means intelligently designed interfaces that surface relevant data and information in a “single-pane-of-glass.”

“Opinionated software” developed around proven best practices

While it might sound paradoxical, today’s workforce wants innovation that is both tailored to their individual needs and standardized so it can leverage best practices defined and honed by others who have gone before. This is the promise of mass customization, which is finally arriving to the world of enterprise software. In Impartner’s case, we develop our software based on input gleaned from thousands of implementations with hundreds of customers. The “opinions” we get from these engagements go a long way in helping us provide customers software that not only leverages the best in software design but also the best in business best practices.

Common data sets that can move simply and securely between platforms without compromise

Given that there are more than 21.5 billion things connected to the Internet, the world has never been awash in so much data. Google alone processes 3.5 billion search requests every day. Today, every interaction, transaction and communication results in data. But like saltwater to a thirsty traveler, data is no good unless it can be captured, stored and shared in a reasonable manner. Many organizations believe they can leverage their data and even participate in the “big data” revolution. But they are kidding themselves if their data must be exported, scrubbed and reformatted every time it is moved between tools, applications and platforms. In the future, data will be available to everyone who needs it and to no one who does not. It will also be available in formats that are readily accessible and easy to put to use.

The Spoils for “Winning the Race”

What, you may wonder, does an organization get for its efforts to “automate to the fullest extent possible?” It’s a fair question. The rewards for modernizing your tech stack are many and can be measured in everything from market share gains to increased revenue to improved customer satisfaction and more. Take Impartner, for example.

In exchange for our commitment to support this revolution and embrace its principles across our entire organization, we have seen our sales grow and our valuation increase. In October 2021, for example,Impartner announced new funding from investors totaling $50 million. The money will help fuel additional growth initiatives and help advance our mission to help organizations everywhere improve their competitiveness through tech stack modernization.

In addition to higher valuations, McKinsey & Co. says “digital leaders” can expect plenty of other benefits, too.

“While top economic performers are already significantly ahead of their peers in specific digital capabilities (automation, for example), they are also moving much more quickly than their peers in key business areas. Top tech companies, for example, share test-and-learn findings across the business, reallocate digital talent, and use multiple sources of insight about customers weekly, while average performers do those tasks monthly,” McKinsey & Co. says.

For business practitioners, the practical implications of digital transformation and tech stack modernization are many. You may require one or more of the following to keep pace:

• New capabilities among your talent pool
• New metrics and objectives to measure and stimulate growth
• New strategies to compete more effectively
• Organizational realignment around common goals and outcomes

For some, the journey to digital modernization is just beginning. For others, it’s a work in progress. Regardless of where you are today, we are committed to helping you make progress in your journey, especially when it comes to you go-to-market tech stack that may include a customer relationship management (CRM) platform, a marketing automation platform (MAP) and a partner relationship management platform (PRM), which is our specialty.

We at Impartner are committed to providing you the most integrated, flexible and intelligently designed technology possible. It’s why 78% of our customers believe our technology provides them with a competitive edge in their market.

We welcome the opportunity to provide them same to you.

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