A Look At Common IT Digital Transformation Strategies for Businesses

The last thing you want is for your business to start falling behind your competitors. You have great products or services but things are falling through the cracks. 

Maybe your business IT infrastructure is bogging down or data isn’t always easy to find. This probably means it’s time to take a look at your data center. When it’s time to bring your infrastructure into the future, it helps to know a bit about a few of the popular IT digital transformation strategies.

Essential Considerations in a Digital Transformation Strategy

Trying to transform your organization’s entire digital landscape is a long-term commitment. You can’t tackle everything at once unless you don’t mind shutting down daily operations. 

A better idea is to focus on key components. Pay attention to provisioning. You don’t want to lock key staff out of the system or something worse like your network, servers, or applications.

Network

When you’re discussing network provisioning, it’s referring to both creating and establishing a network. Why do you need a network? To put it simply, your network is the collection of hardware and software that enables connectivity and communication between devices, apps, users, and the internet. 

Without a network, you’re basically back to using a rotary phone and landline to handle most of your daily business tasks. While it’s possible to go extremely old school, it’s not effective and you’ll find it’s impossible to grow your business.

Server

Now that your network is in place, it’s time to think about server provisioning. Your servers are a vital part of your IT infrastructure and will work within your established network. What’s included in server provisioning? Your operating systems, software controls, and assigning specific servers to authorized users. 

Server provisioning isn't limited to physical resources, it can also include virtual ones. For example, if your business is taking advantage of cloud computing you’re using a virtual server. This needs to be considered in your provisioning. Forgetting even a single resource can have disastrous effects on business operations. 

For example, you may not have access to stored data or even be able to save information. This is a rather extreme example but it gives you an idea of the importance of planning.

Applications

Application provisioning is more than ensuring everyone has the right apps installed on their devices. First, you need to identify the applications and then create and deploy them. 

In applications provisioning, you're talking about apps that optimize performance in a specific area. This may mean an application that improves communication across various platforms or even one that makes it easier for employees to collaborate in real time. 

While you can always add applications as you go, it’s still a good idea to have a plan for the ones you know are necessary for your business operation.

User

When it comes to user provisioning, things can get a little complicated. This process refers to who is allowed to access specific data. 

The process involves creating, modifying, deleting, and disabling users’ accounts as necessary. In other words, this type of infrastructure provisioning is never finished. Every time someone leaves the company, you’ll need to disable or delete their account. You’ll create a new account as part of an employee's onboarding process.

User provisioning focuses primarily on an employee’s rights and permissions to use the account and access data. This part of IT infrastructure provisioning is often considered one of the most essential parts of the process. While you may consider the constant updates and changes tedious and time-consuming, it’s also essential for security. 

The last thing you want is an upset former employee still having access to business data. On the other hand, you also don’t want a new employee sitting around with nothing to do since you haven’t gotten around to adding their account. Either situation isn’t good for your business.

Key Advantages of Serverless Computing in a Digital Transformation Strategy

Serverless computing is something pretty much every business should consider including in its digital transformation strategy. The benefits are typically more than makeup for the time and effort it takes to ditch your physical servers.

An obvious benefit of serverless computing is cost efficiency. Gone are the costs associated with purchasing and maintaining servers. Is your business working with limited space? Servers take up a lot of space, and you can’t leave the components sitting in a random corner. The components need a dry and cool environment, and this costs money.

Switching to a pay-per-use model can result in significant savings compared to using traditional servers. Instead of paying purchasing, storage, and maintenance costs, you’re only paying usage fees.

See a Boost in Efficiency

We mentioned earlier how serverless computing can free up developers' time. Instead of spending hours patching and maintaining servers, your team can focus on other innovative tasks like developing apps.

Since your cloud service provider is taking care of these mundane tasks like handling updates, work tends to flow a little more smoothly and efficiently. What can your team accomplish when they’re not bogged down with routine maintenance tasks?

Back-End Codes Made Simple

Yep, you read that right. Serverless computing can take the hassle out of back-end code. Developers can spend countless hours working on back-end code before they even start pecking away at the product.

Did you know serverless architecture actually provides a ton of microservices? You guessed it, these services include back-end codes. This way, your team can easily develop, deploy, and even manage small bits of code. With back-end codes made simple, efficiency tends to see a bounce while costs take a bit of a dive.

Easily Scalable

Scalability is a key priority. After all, no one wants to pay for services they’re not using. Serverless cloud computing is scalable, so you’re only paying for the services your business is actually using. 

Best of all, the scalability feature is automatic. Your virtual server will automatically adjust to meet traffic demands. This way, you don’t need to worry about an app or website becoming unresponsive just because it can’t keep up with consumer demand. Creating an effective digital transformation strategy takes work but the rewards are well worth the effort.