On Behalf of

Amazon Web Services

Migration to Innovation: Developing a Technology Plan to Execute Strategic Priorities

On Behalf of

Amazon Web Services

 

The content on this page was commissioned by our sponsor, Amazon Web Services (AWS).

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In this age of digital transformation, organizations seeking to grow by offering innovative, customer-focused products and services must develop technology strategies that are aligned with their business priorities. That means considering which emerging technologies are strategic — that is, they provide competitive advantage — and building the modern digital infrastructure required to take full advantage of those technologies.

This guide suggests four key steps that business leaders and CIOs/CTOs can take in charting their course:

Step 1: Define your strategic priorities. These are the handful of actions that will have the greatest impact on your business over the next few years. What is changing around you that requires a response? What will drive key results?

Step 2: Find your engines of innovation. Technology and business leaders need to work together to identify the new tools and services that help make it possible to achieve the organization’s top goals.

Step 3: Understand your technology platform needs. Once you have identified the key technologies that can help the enterprise meet its goals, decide what characteristics you most need from platforms and infrastructure. How do these technologies affect demand for data storage and computing resources? What’s required to provide developers with the latest and best tools? What will allow you to serve customers in key regional markets, or during busy times for your sector?

Step 4: Manage changes to technology and the organization. Adopting the new technology and platforms that help the enterprise achieve its strategic objectives requires top leadership to commit to managing change.

Read the full guide for expert perspectives on the issues that enterprise technology leaders must consider as they develop strategies for using technology to unlock innovation in their organizations.

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