New 2021 Europe Report Reveals the Best Digital Transformation Innovators
The commercial world, in particular, has witnessed swift developments and rapid changes as a result of the pandemic. The internet has eased the mode of doing business; more services can be delivered in shorter time frames.
More business activities have to be done online and better IT structures are needed to cater to the huge databases resulting from doing much more online. Many companies through smart business and tech leaders have revolutionized their digital transformation process through native-cloud, artificial intelligence and other technology-based processes.
Let us examine how four of these business innovators have been able to revolutionize their businesses through cloud-native infrastructure.
Gary Delooze (CIO, Nationwide Building Society London, UK)
Gary was appointed the Chief information officer at Nationwide and was given the responsibility of refurbishing the company’s technology standing and building a reputable database. Gary had to innovate on how the company would quit relying on third-party IT service providers and build a digital platform that would stand the test of time for its customers.
Before Gary’s appointment, virtually all of Nationwide’s IT services were outsourced to tech providers and system integrators. So, the company spent a whole lot on their IT systems and risked the danger of data breaches.
Consequently, Gary started work on innovating a reliable and trusted IT system. He was able to do this successfully by innovating cloud-native architectures. Gary has successfully built a system that allows the company to design and adopt the latest technologies in-house.
By 2018, Nationwide was already redesigning its IT estate by moving its IT structure to the cloud computing system. Gary has been able to achieve such success due to his ability to observe the situation, listen to innovative suggestions, and work together with his colleagues.
Dean Demellweek (Digital Transformation Leader, BNP Paribas)
For Dean, it was all about his passion to pave the way for blockchain and artificial intelligence to work for society in the 21st century. Dean channelled the digital transformation process at BNP Paribas by propagating the need to adopt Artificial Intelligence and the Blockchain. His life for technology and creativity fueled him to success.
While serving as the Digital Transformation leader for the investment banking arm at BNP Paribas, he did a lot of research on the blockchain network to identify market trends and opportunities.
He was a key innovator in the Marco Polo project, an international blockchain trade finance network lowering the barrier to entry for blockchain trade finance, which is underpinned by R3’s Corda technology. Dean also works as a mentor to many blockchain Fintech startups, helping them to harness their products for successful corporate customers.
For example, he helps them formulate practical ways of working effectively within the existing regulations, which have not been designed with disruptive technologies in mind. Dean has been able to successfully combine AI with blockchain to make the financial sector smarter and perform more effectively.
Craig Donald (CIO, The Football Association London, UK)
The drive for Craig was building a digital ecosystem for the footballers of England from the grassroots to the highest levels. Craig joined the English FA in mid-2018 to spearhead the digital engagement and transformation program of the association. He has been able to integrate systems that helped the FA move towards evolving digital technologies.
Craig started by helping the FA innovate technology that would endear football fans, the players, and other volunteers to English football from grassroots to elite level.
At the grassroots level, Craig has been working to integrate many offline and online systems into an ecosystem of engaging digital apps. This integration has eased the stress of registering new players and communicating with the FA, all of which were manual, stressful processes.
Craig has since spearheaded transforming the single-structure technologies of the FA into highly automated, modular, cloud-based systems. This way, they can be updated in no time; there have been 15 updates in the last 18 months of this digital transformation.
Craig has transformed the FA’s matchday app at the grassroots level into one that can give you real-time updates about the matchday. Furthermore, at the elite level, Craig has been working with Google Cloud’s Data Capabilities to develop the Player Performance System which tracks critical information such as health, overall performance, and a host of other in-depth player analyses.
Craig’s innovation has resulted in a seamless administration of activities and other logistics by the FA. The activities are more enjoyable and less cumbersome, and everyone now enjoys English football more.
Conclusion
These business leaders are just part of the numerous that have developed different innovative infrastructures to create digital structures for sustained future success.
Common to these top innovators are the abilities to sense area(s) needing improvement, desire to act, and ability to cooperate with colleagues to achieve a common goal. Now is the time to revamp your business digitally to compete in this ever-evolving commercial world.
