How can you balance IT innovation with reliability?

Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. A lack of maturity won’t prevent you from innovating but you will not be able to optimally benefit from it. Gaining maturity will ensure the organization is structured to leverage its innovations

I would like to comment on the topic mention "IT Maturity" rather diverting to benefits realization or managing innovation. Many of the buzz words used related to technology and its impact on business such as " Digital Transformation & Innovation" will have very different relationship to business depending on the type and size of the organization. Technology or IT maturity is not a one measurable scale for every business, Rather before starting the journey some basic rules need to be setup in defining your own metrics in line with the Framework you want to adopt, Industry specific requirements and local country specific regulations should be considered, and once the scale it setup you can perform a quick self-assessment or gap analysis.

When starting an IT project, whether it's a basic AI system for monitoring or a multifaceted data warehousing encompassing diverse databases, operating systems, and various data centers, my approach consistently commences with a comprehensive system inventory analysis and a thorough review of all stakeholders, assessing their capabilities and strengths since they will bear the responsibility of system maintenance. Embracing efficiency through AI and automation, I adhere to the Six Sigma DMAIC methodology. It begins with defining the problem, measuring it with data, analyzing potential solutions, improving the system, establishing control with sustainable long-term solutions, and then repeating the process as needed for any adjustments.

Cautious adoption of innovation into business transformation needs expertise , balanced act of measuring business objectives with technologies. 1. Identify key business objectives , impact analysis and cost & business benefits, organization wide impact due to this innovation. 2. Align diverse teams , cross functional skills , processes and management to achieve the objective . 3. Assess risks , failures , create a backup plan , act with due diligence. 4. Bring thought leadership into teams , create enthusiasm, empower and train right people to gauge and accelerate innovation . 5. Exhibit strong leadership skills in implementation of innovation .

While considering IT maturity, it is imperative that impact to business and end users is considered. The demands of constantly changing technology landscape and its pace of change may influence to get IT done now , however, if business outcomes and user experience is not factored in , this may lead to more effort and hence more money later on

What is your IT Strategy , if the focus is on either Transformation or Innovation, this should be part of IT strategy, If at all a separate Innovation function is setup for technology then this has to be driven as a separate strategy, Basically Digital Transformation and Innovation strategically has always aligned with technology, Again for a technology company Innovation is at its core and technology supports it, and for a non technology company innovation is a function within IT / Technology which ensures support to transform business by improving and automation processes, creating new business leveraging technology. In all scenarios Innovation strategy is about planning to generating new ideas and supporting to deliver them.

When crafting a system, my approach centers around a meticulous examination of gathered data. I consistently pose critical questions: "What would be the repercussions if I implement this change? Which processes can be reallocated, and what's the cost-benefit ratio of this streamlined and effective design?" Before initiating the development work, it's imperative that all stakeholders enthusiastically commit to this new business process.

Before implementing any new technology or innovative solution, we develop a comprehensive strategic roadmap. This ensures that our innovation initiatives align with our business goals and that we're prepared for the transition, minimizing disruption while maximizing benefits.

While actively engaged in development work and distributing project tasks to designated teams, I implemented a numerical prioritization system to underscore key focuses. I commence by addressing the fundamental and structural modules of the project first. This approach ensures that the core system is available for beta testing concurrently with the development of additional feature modules. It also facilitates ongoing measurement of the core system using feedback, enabling iterative rollouts.

The primary objective of the QA and testing teams is to rigorously assess the system, making them an integral component of every development cycle.

Balancing IT projects & innovation with reliability must have deep analysis, organizational goals, employees and customer requirement’s & the key to balancing innovation and resilience is approaching it in a manner that includes a fallback plan that allows your organization to revert back to pre-innovation practices. Proper and clear layout and design of strategy, execution, agile and scrum practices, QA, user feedback and monitoring are vital for the success.

There has been a lot of enhancements in technology itself to this specific topic. You are now able to get tools on which will connect directly to your tech stack to provide valuable data across the board. That data most importantly, will assist tech and business to make decisions together on innovation. Therefore, it’s not about do or dont but when, monitoring tools should be place. In my opinion, it should be deployed at the start while there is consideration on tech stack to better support the upcoming activities.

This phase, while it may seem mundane, actually holds a unique charm for me. In addition to the standard monitoring of IT project progress, outcomes, and their alignment with predefined goals, priorities, and benchmarks, I introduce an AI element into the system. These AI agents, often referred to as self-healing technology, diligently oversee application, network, and database performance. They autonomously execute tasks such as automatic application restarts and the monitoring of performance bottlenecks in response to user interactions. The AI agents maintain a comprehensive log of their findings and even request new training when faced with unfamiliar situations. This approach guarantees uninterrupted 24x7 operations.

We maintain a two-track system in our IT department. One track focuses on maintaining and optimizing our core systems using proven methods to ensure reliability. The other track operates in a more agile environment, allowing for rapid experimentation and innovation. This approach enables us to balance stability with forward-thinking initiatives.

I would add that in the dynamic world of IT, balancing innovation, reliability, and business value is paramount. The Human-Centered Design approach offers a winning strategy. By putting users at the heart of innovation, HCD ensures that technological advancements meet real human needs. Through iterative testing and feedback, it also guarantees reliability while delivering solutions that truly add value. In IT, innovation without empathy can miss the mark, but when you innovate with the user in mind, you’re on the path to meaningful and successful outcomes. #HCD #Innovation #ITStrategy

We maintain a two-track system in our IT department. One track focuses on maintaining and optimizing our core systems using proven methods to ensure reliability. The other track operates in a more agile environment, allowing for rapid experimentation and innovation. This approach enables us to balance stability with forward-thinking initiatives.

As we stated before innovation happens at a specific layer of the overall business process, so performing an adequate assessment of the solution, impact analysis, pros and cons evaluation, stakeholder sponsorship and business case should happen always to drive an innovation project forward, it's not about tech we are the vehicle.

Balance is a result of personal investment. You need skin in the game before, during, & after. And Innovation without Reliability has a name; Proof Of Concept. You can't call it "innovation" unless it works reliably & functions as intended, full stop. But this topic ignores the past in favor of the five subtopics to this question, which can be broken down into two categories. Category #1: Duh QA & Testing; Monitor & Evaluate; this is low hanging fruit. Category #2) Unnecessary, but useful if your team needs to bowl in the lane with gutter guards to ensure they hit at least some of the pins, every time. Maturity; Innovation Strategy; Agile & DevOps; 50 years of industry innovation prior to these terms becoming marketable products.