When we talk about complexity in organizations, the focus often falls on IT.
After all, many large companies and organizations are currently dealing with modernizing enterprise-class applications like ERP and customer and sales relationship management — bringing them from on-premises architectures to cloud- and edge-based software as a service (SaaS).
A recent Harvard Business Review article titled “Taming Complexity: Make sure the benefits of any addition to an organization’s systems outweigh its costs” takes issue with complexity being considered a negative.
Citing resilience, adaptability, coordination, and inimitability as key attributes spawned by complexity, the HBR research challenges organizations to turn complicated workflows and processes into competitive advantages.
The best place to start is by understanding what drove the need for all the huge, interconnected technologies and related IT support in the first place: Complex business processes.
Nearly everything in an organization touches or is dependent on some other department. Sales is connected to marketing, finance, supply chain. Finance is linked with sales, supply chain, human resources.
These interrelationships between lines of business can be boiled down to data, and data stored in various pockets of utilization — or as they are commonly referred to, silos.
The key for any line of business leader or executive today is determining how best to use their data to envision, build, and deploy business solutions that deliver integrated experiences for users.
From one-source employee onboarding to quick-launch ecommerce and supply chain applications, successful organizations harness complexity to deliver the experiences their customers, partners, and employees want.
For more information on what you can do to turn your complex data into a competitive edge, get our eBook: Connecting a Fragmented Digital Landscape through Modern Integration