Michael Grebe, a Senior Partner and Managing Director in Munich, is a core member of The Boston Consulting Group's Technology Advantage and Financial Institutions practices and leads BCG's global work in digitalization of the tech function. He is the global topic leader for the Digital Acceleration Index (DAI) and the Simplify IT approach. Since joining BCG in 1997, Michael has worked with numerous financial institutions on a wide range of technology-related issues, including simplification of IT, post-merger integration, large-project review and recovery, IT sourcing, and core-banking-system migration.
ALM Intelligence: How's BCG's Tech-nology Advantage practice structured and how do you engage BCG Platinion on IT transformation projects.
Grebe: BCG's Technology Advantage practice provides its technology and digital services to companies in all industries as well as to organizations in the public sector. Globally, we have more than 3,000 staff members across BCG, BCG Platinion, and BCG Digital Ventures. The practice is organized around four core topics: • Digitizing the business. This topic covers: transforming the operating model of the entire value chain and digitizing the customer experience, core processes, and support functions; • Implementing a Data and Digital Platform. This entails conceptualizing and building a data and digital platform with next-generation capabilities. Such a platform enables an organization to scale digital initiatives while using legacy systems; • Leveraging Software and Agile way of working. This topic focuses on helping organizations adapt and "upskill" so that they can leverage the potential of agile methods, the software business model, and open application programming interfaces; • Digitizing the Tech Function. This addresses digitizing an organization's technology function and enabling it to facilitate digital business.
ALM Intelligence: How does BCG see IT's role evolving during this era of rapid technology transformation?
Grebe: Technology transformation is part of a company's larger need to digitize its business. The vast majority of companies are, or are becoming, technology companies—at least to a certain degree. Soon, technology will be embedded in nearly every product, service, and process, all of which, in turn, will be integrated into a broader digital ecosystem. As a result, the IT function is at a crossroads, and senior leaders need to respond in a coherent way that best serves their business. Leaders who want IT to retain its strategic role must transform it with an eye to agility, speed, and specialized skills. The alternative is for IT to focus on only internal mission-critical infrastructure, capabilities, and policies that keep the business functioning effectively and securely. The latter role is an important one, but it carries less strategic weight. We expect that most IT leaders will want IT to continue playing a strategic role as an accelerator for digital transformation.
ALM Intelligence: How do IT megatrends affect the demand for IT operations consulting?
Grebe: We expect the demand for IT operations consulting to be driven by four megatrends: IT infrastructure is becoming a utility, as processing power and storage are increasingly cloud-based and provided by a few highly professional players. Software is operating everything, not only traditional backbone systems but also customer engagement and the products themselves. Data is turning into an organization's most valuable asset. Digital is becoming an integral part of every company, as technology affects—and in most cases, enables—everything. ALM Intelligence: The role of the CIO appears to be at a crossroads. How does BCG view the CIO of the future?
Grebe: We expect most companies will choose to retain IT's strategic role, so we see the Chief Information Officer (CIO) remaining important—particularly to manage the digital transformation of the IT department and help to accelerate digital business transformation. However, many IT departments lack the agility and the in-house expertise to meet evolving business needs. Therefore, some business units are appointing Chief Digital Officers (CDOs) to lead initiatives. We expect the most effective CDOs will be temporary, completing their digital programs in three to five years and then transitioning to other responsibilities in their companies.
ALM Intelligence: Digitalization drives business change and also requires a transformation of the IT function. How does BCG assess an organization's maturity level during the digitalization journey?
Grebe: We believe that organizational change should always be tied to business needs and value. That is why our main entry point to assess the digital maturity of an organization is the Digital Acceleration Index. The DAI is conceptualized to provide a holistic view of an organization's digital strengths and weaknesses as well as to benchmark it against the industry and its direct competitors.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.