From Disrupted To Disruptor, The Way Of The Cloud
By Ravi Kumar S., Infosys and Bob Lord, IBM
As incumbents obsess over the implications of big tech, digital insurgents deliver cutting-edge solutions that have started to enrich our daily lives. Digital banks in India like Monzo and N26 quietly made themselves at home in the United States, establishing credibility alongside natives like Varo, SoFi and Chime.
Healthtech companies continue to uncover ways to monitor patients remotely, transfer patient data securely and provide value-based care. For example, Tempus, a Chicago-based data and technology company was valuated at $3 billion in 2019 due to its AI-powered analysis of clinical data that creates personalized cancer treatment plans for patients. The company cemented a pathway to success by harnessing the power of AI to deliver a critical action plan to those in need.
While leading businesses across highly regulated industries like financial services, insurance and healthcare may not immediately see a decline in consumers or the bottom line, disrupters lure millions away from traditional players in these industries each year. The result is a much deeper challenge to navigate. These disrupters don’t penetrate the marketplace by poaching customers from incumbents. Banks, insurers and healthcare providers consistently misinterpret business needs due to dated systems and workstream silos, resulting in the reallocation of market share to tech-savvy enterprises that accurately gauge consumer demand. Make no mistake, a shift in power toward digital-first companies is underway, and the cloud plays a major role in helping these companies establish themselves. The time is now to break the silos; embracing the journey to public cloud is crucial.
The most successful cloud-based disruptors support agile creation in experiment sandboxes, increasing cost efficiency and course variability. The public cloud can be a true enterprise enabler in transforming processes, expanding into growth markets, launching emerging products and automating operations—all of which are vital to success. Embarking on a digital transformation to public cloud is the only way to capitalize on storage scalability and open-source innovations. Yet, for these highly regulated, data-sensitive industries, concerns around privacy, regulatory compliance, security and system downtime are pressing.
To further accelerate the digital transformation to public cloud, enterprises in sensitive industries should forge symbiotic collaborations with secure and open providers and align with service partners that have deep domain experience. Additional best practices to accelerate the journey to public cloud include:
Reimagining security. Modernize and transform enterprise applications by tapping into the public cloud to ensure security for mission-critical workloads.
Rewiring the landscape for better compliance. Streamline processes to render enterprises suitable for the Cloud. Leverage artificial intelligence to augment human intervention and enhance Cloud adoption. Rewire the environment to be compliant-by-design.
Failing-fast, learning faster. A strong cloud service partnership can accelerate concepts, pilots, staffing and other mechanisms designed to deliver value quickly and securely. Take the time to assess what succeeds and what’s a risk. Fail forward.
Nurturing grassroots innovation. Consider the enterprise’s DNA when mapping cultural shifts inside a new Cloud-based organization. Cloud partners are integral in fostering cultural renewal—from leadership, downstream into the ranks.
About The Authors
Ravi Kumar S. is President of Infosys and Bob Lord is Senior Vice President, Cognitive Applications & Ecosystems at IBM.