It’s almost universally accepted that all industries must embrace and evolve digitally in order to survive – and to do so quickly to thrive.

So it’s no surprise that companies are trying to transform their IT organisations with hybrid cloud– particularly it can also save as much as 24% percent in operations, which can then be reallocated to new digital initiatives.

EMC’s State of IT Transformation report shows that over the last several years, successful progress has been made but organisations are still being held back from achieving their true potential.

The report, which reviewed the gaps, progresses and goals of 660 IT decision-makers across 18 industries, found that organisations are more than capable of purchasing and implementing the cloud technology required but are struggling with how to change the organisational culture, processes and the tools around cloud solutions to run IT in a new way which better supports the business.

>See also : The traps of digital transformation: it’s a tool, not a target

CIOs should focus on developing the following four key areas to ensure they are able to drive IT transformation successfully.

1. Invest in upskilling your team

I often see IT teams who simply haven’t understood what’s required internally to support what’s required – a target-operating model or hybrid cloud infrastructure, for example. Both in terms of the technology required to build a full picture and the specific skills needed to run it.

It sounds obvious but ensuring the team has the right skills to develop, implement and evolve digital transformation is vital.

2. Spend time really getting to grips with your existing workloads

Not everyone is able to understand how suitable their existing workloads are for transition into a public cloud infrastructure, or how to evaluate them in a quantifiable way to build a strong business case for their recommendations.

3. Develop a clear strategy and communicate it across the business

Many teams still haven’t clearly articulated the IT services they want to deliver to the wider organisation through a service catalogue. How can IT transformation be successful if no one knows about it?

4. Ensure you’re able to meter and monitor services once they’re live

Even once workloads are migrated and hybrid cloud is being used, many IT teams aren’t able to meter and monitor its usage. They must be able to do this so they can prove the value of the project and recover the costs for running the service.

>See also: How to move beyond digital transformation

The benefits for those who successfully navigate the transition to a hybrid cloud environment are numerous. Some organisations achieve a 50% cost saving in traditional IT, driven by consolidation of infrastructure and redirection of headcount through the automation of IT as a service. Others have taken provisioning time down from weeks to days.

All of this can reposition IT departments internally as business enablers, rather than just a cost centre.

Ultimately it is measurable strategic business value that CIOs must ensure they’re delivering. But without the right skills, strategy or ability to analysis and manage a service, there is no hope of doing so.

But once the digital transformation ball is rolling in the right direction, it becomes significantly easier to secure bigger budgets to implement more radical projects.

Sourced from Paul Russell, senior director of global services, EMC UK&I