Priorities for Adopting an Exponential IT Mindset in the Technology Service Provider Industry
Adopting Exponential IT is critical for business growth and sustainability.
- Your ability to evolve with exponential technology is limited by a legacy of poor data quality and weak information management practices.
- You struggle to recruit the skilled labor needed to deploy new technology and to meet growing customer demand for support, service, and advice.
- You need to adhere to new laws and regulations related to data and technology for your own survival and as a service to your customers.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
Technology service providers face challenges in maintaining their competitiveness and profitability due to rapid change and the need to support multiple generations of technology. Technology leaders must embrace innovation and become strategic business partners to the organization’s success. Exponential IT provides the tools necessary to prepare for tomorrow and will help service providers secure a strong position in the evolving technology industry.
Impact and Result
- Recognize the urgency of adopting an exponential mindset in technology services.
- Link four priorities of Exponential IT transformation to the business opportunities of tomorrow.
- Prepare to create a roadmap for your Exponential IT journey by leveraging existing Info-Tech resources.
Priorities for Adopting an Exponential IT Mindset in the Technology Service Provider Industry
Adopting Exponential IT is critical for business growth and sustainability.
Analyst perspective
Enable value creation through Exponential IT.
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Exponential IT is about seeing accelerating innovation in information technology and recognizing that yesterday’s status quo won’t carry you into tomorrow. Rapid change demands strategic action, and our members are calling to ask how best to prepare themselves for a deluge of new technology. Our Exponential IT framework and our latest roadmap blueprint are thoughtful tools to help navigate significant change successfully. To assist you in beginning your journey, we have identified four key priorities that resonate with our data, experience, and member interviews. Though these priorities are not completely universal, they should, at a minimum, give you a sense of critical components needed to prepare for the future. Dr. Justin St-Maurice |
Executive summary
Your challenge |
Common obstacles |
Info-Tech’s approach |
|---|---|---|
Your ability to evolve with exponential technology is limited by a legacy of poor data quality and weak information management practices. You struggle to recruit skilled labour to deploy new technology and meet growing customer demand for support, service, and advice. You need to adhere to new laws and regulations related to data and technology for your own survival and as a service to your customers. |
You have implemented consistent policies and procedures, but struggle to embrace flexibility in service delivery as your customers request new technology. You need to account for the environmental impacts of new technology to meet the needs of international markets. You have accumulated technical debt and inherited the debt of your customers, forcing resources onto the maintenance of legacy technology instead of the deployment and integration of new technology. |
Recognize the urgency of adopting Exponential IT within the technology service provider industry to combat industry disruptions. Comprehend the four priorities of Exponential IT transformation for the technology service provider industry that are being adopted today to remain competitive within the market. Acknowledge the foundational capabilities and maturity required to begin an effective Exponential IT transformation, resulting in value creation. |
Info-Tech Insight
Technology service providers face challenges in maintaining their competitiveness and profitability due to rapid change and the need to support multiple generations of technology. Technology leaders must embrace innovation and become strategic business partners to the organization’s success. Exponential IT provides the tools necessary to prepare for tomorrow and will help service providers secure a strong position in the evolving technology industry.
What is Exponential IT?
Exponential IT is a framework defined by Info-Tech Research Group
The technology curve has recently bent exponentially.
Generative AI has been the catalyst for this sudden shift, but there are more and more new technologies emerging (e.g. quantum computing, 5G), putting significant pressure on all organizations.
Speed is now imperative. All IT leaders and organizations are at risk of falling behind if they do not adopt new technologies fast enough.
Our framework instructs all IT leaders on how to transform their organization and elevate their value-creation capabilities, to close the gap between the exponential progression of technological change and the linear progression of IT’s ability to successfully manage that change.
This research provides IT leaders with industry-specific priorities for Exponential IT and how to begin an effective Exponential IT transformation resulting in value creation.
Your Exponential IT journey
To keep pace with the exponential technology curve, adopt an Exponential IT mindset and practices. Assess your organization’s readiness and embark on a transformation journey. This report will provide greater insights to help you build your Exponential IT Roadmap.
To access all Exponential IT research, visit the Exponential IT Research Center
Go to this link
The focus of this report |
Repeat annually |
Repeat annually |
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Adopt an Exponential IT Mindset Info-Tech resources: Exponential IT Research Center, Research Center Overview, and Keynote |
Explore the Art of the Possible Info-Tech resources: Exponential IT research blueprints for nine IT domains |
Gauge Your Organizational Readiness Info-Tech resource: Exponential IT Readiness Diagnostic |
Build an Exponential IT Roadmap Info-Tech resource: Develop an Exponential IT Roadmap blueprint |
Embark on Your Exponential IT Journey Info-Tech resources: Ongoing and tactical domain-level research and insights |
The pace of technological change will continue to increase exponentially in technology services
IT must solve the problem of rapidly and exponentially increasing expectations.
Organizations are adopting exponential technologies at an accelerated rate due to the rapidly changing landscape. Traditional linear IT is no longer viable to sustain IT’s place as the leading technology provider for their organization.
Failure to launch will leave you far behind. The chasm between the organization’s desire to harness technology and IT’s ability to deliver it will continue to widen.
The challenges with traditional linear IT:
- Slow to adapt to more modern service delivery models
- Processes and decision-making that can’t accelerate to meet demand
- Transactional arms-length relationships with organization units and vendors
- Insufficient funding and focus on technology innovation
- Locked into a siloed and hierarchical operating model
The Case for Exponential IT
IT needs to fundamentally transform the way it is operating in the following ways:
- Build an Adaptive Delivery Model: Enable flexible and efficient delivery of products and services.
- Optimize & Autonomize Operations: Maximize efficiency while mitigating risks through intelligent automation and data-driven decision-making.
- Broker Strategic Relationships: Strengthen and build both external and internal relationships to better align IT capabilities to organizational goals.
- Embrace Digital Innovation: Evaluate and adopt solutions that drive consumer value, enterprise growth, and innovation.
- Cultivate Workforce Flexibility: Dismantle traditional jobs and hierarchies, normalize new collaborative ways of working, and adopt a federated and hybrid IT operating model.
The technology service provider industry will experience challenges in adopting Exponential IT
Information Management and Data Quality
- Information management is a difficult discipline that requires the support of specialists, processes, and consistency. Coupled with complex privacy nuances, using data is a strategic challenge and opportunity.
- Strategically integrating disparate data sources is a challenge in and of itself. Creating a holistic data view is a core building block for the use of new technology and unlocks business opportunities (CompTIA, 2022).
Low Resource Availability and Skill Gaps
- It is increasingly difficult to hire and retain affordable specialists to meet business growth, client need, and technology change. Ongoing operations and future innovation both require strategic resourcing.
- With the increasing amount of greenfield innovation that is new to everyone in the market, current team members cannot have the needed experience and skills to implement new technologies.
Evolving Legal Landscape and Regulatory Requirements
- Technology service providers need to manage different types of sensitive data while monitoring new legislative requirements, ethical mandates, and client values.
- The EU AI Act is the latest example of the evolving landscape that will impact technology service provider operations and opportunities.
Only 37% of companies worldwide considered their efforts to improve data quality successful.
Source: Wavestone, 2023
80% of organizations find it difficult to recruit AI data scientists.
Source: McKinsey & Company, 2022
The cost of meeting privacy requirements doubled between 2019 and 2022.
Source: Cisco, 2023
Navigate industry disruptions and obstacles by adopting Exponential IT in the technology service provider industry
EXPONENTIAL DISRUPTIONS |
EXPONENTIAL OBSTACLES |
|---|---|
New Business Models and Markets
Energy and Environmental Costs
|
Technical Debt and Legacy Technology
Rigid Structures, Policies, and Procedures
|
Info-Tech Insight
The rapid change in technology will also shift market expectations. This is not just a challenge but a call to strategic adoption. The ability to meet future expectations requires a set of foundational capabilities to properly execute and drive technology to exceed the expectations and needs of clients.
Managing challenges, disruptions, and obstacles will lead to a future with exponential opportunities
Challenges |
⟩ | Disruptions and Obstacles |
⟩ | Business Opportunities |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Information Management and Data Quality Low Resource Availability and Skill Gaps Evolving Legal Landscape and Regulatory Requirements |
New Business Models and Markets Energy and Environmental Costs Technical Debt and Legacy Technology Rigid Structures, Policies, and Procedures |
1. Data Capitalization 2. Workforce Augmentation 3. Business and Process Agility 4. Sustainable Delivery |
If IT leaders cannot lead this upcoming transformation, then the organization will move forward without them
Only 2% of CXOs report that their IT department can transform the organization. Most IT departments (77%) still struggle to adequately support the organization.
Info-Tech Insight
As organizations strive to succeed in the next phase of technology-driven transformation, CIOs have an opportunity to demonstrate their organizational leadership. To do so, they will have to start delivering organizational capabilities instead of services while owning organizational targets.
Determine IT’s innovation maturity to assess Exponential IT readiness
Complete the CIO Business Vision Diagnostic to understand business needs and satisfaction with IT.
IT must score above 70 to be properly supported by the business and prepared for an Exponential IT shift.
Evaluate IT’s capability, effectiveness, and importance in executing Exponential IT
Complete the Management & Governance Diagnostic to assess core IT processes for improvement.
To properly execute Exponential IT, the organization must understand IT’s strengths and weaknesses for effectively managing and improving the department for innovation.
Leverage Info-Tech’s Exponential IT Diagnostic to gauge readiness
Complete the Exponential IT Diagnostic to determine organizational and IT readiness for exponential technologies.
Info-Tech’s Exponential IT Readiness Diagnostic is designed to assess the readiness of your organization to embrace and extract value from exponential technologies. It measures executive stakeholder perceptions of organizational readiness for transformation and IT leader perceptions of IT readiness for transformation.
This readiness assessment is a crucial initial step in the Exponential IT journey to help you understand the needs, opportunities, and priorities of stakeholders across the organization.
Organizational readiness
Organizational readiness refers to perceived readiness to adopt exponential technologies and willingness to change into a more adaptable, forward-looking organization.
Without strong organizational readiness for transformation, IT will need to take extra steps to drive technology adoption, break down silos, and gain support for its own transformation efforts.
IT readiness
IT readiness includes current maturity across all IT domains, willingness and support for transformation, and foundational elements required for Exponential IT.
Without a high IT readiness for Exponential IT, the transformation roadmap may need to include additional foundational change efforts in its first year.
Review streams and work packages to determine areas of focus
STREAMS |
WORK PACKAGES |
|---|---|
BUILD AN ADAPTIVE DELIVERY MODEL |
Invest in D&A capabilities Drive product management & ownership Shift to autonomous & distributed delivery |
OPTIMIZE & AUTONOMIZE OPERATIONS |
Enhance security & risk management Optimize data for real-time decisions Shift to autonomized capabilities |
BROKER STRATEGIC RELATIONSHIPS |
Strengthen external partnerships Align IT with the organization |
EMBRACE DIGITAL INNOVATION |
Define enterprise growth experiences Redirect funds and resources to innovation Lead technology-driven innovation |
CULTIVATE WORKFORCE FLEXIBILITY |
Redefine skills & roles Embed IT into the organization |
Prioritize efforts within your streams and work packages
STREAMS | WORK PACKAGES |
|---|---|
BUILD AN ADAPTIVE DELIVERY MODEL | Invest in D&A capabilities
Drive product management & ownership
Shift to autonomous & distributed delivery
|
OPTIMIZE & AUTONOMIZE OPERATIONS | Enhance security & risk management
Optimize data for real-time decisions
Shift to autonomized capabilities
|
BROKER STRATEGIC RELATIONSHIPS | Strengthen external partnerships
Align IT with the organization
|
EMBRACE DIGITAL INNOVATION | Define enterprise growth experiences
Redirect funds and resources to innovation
Lead technology-driven innovation
|
CULTIVATE WORKFORCE FLEXIBILITY | Redefine skills & roles
Embed IT into the organization
|
Key Exponential IT roadmap concepts
Leverage Exponential IT to transform and unleash the potential of the technical service provider industry
Determine strategic priorities by navigating Exponential IT readiness
Individual organizational priorities may differ from the general industry priorities.
There are four priorities for technology service providers:
- Architect business capabilities
- Co-own organizational outcomes
- Integrate IT and enterprise risk
- Augment your data
The priorities laid out in this report indicate where many organizations within the industry are focusing their efforts based on industry expertise, practitioners, and secondary research, allowing IT leaders to gauge the industry’s maturity in the space.
Each Exponential IT journey must be embedded into the larger IT strategy with a focus on initiatives that align with the organization’s goal and strategy every year. Therefore, each organization must determine its Exponential IT readiness to prioritize initiatives that fit into its roadmap.
Exponential IT readiness is determined by completing the diagnostics as discussed on slides 12-14. These diagnostics will allow IT to understand their specific current state and how prepared they are for Exponential IT or if they should take a step back to focus on foundational capabilities, allowing IT leaders to understand where they should focus to achieve goals.
Download the Exponential IT Roadmap research to develop the organization’s custom roadmap
Download the Exponential IT Roadmap research
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