Explain how the decision to adopt AWS cloud from Sunlife could support its digital strategy?

more info on their choice of AWS cloud - https://www.itbusiness.caews/sun-life-chooses-aws-as-its-cloud-tech-provider/119336

Supporting Digital Strategy A successful digital strategy requires more than "dreaming in Technicolor." The ability to develop, implement, and evolve an effective digital strategy is fostered and supported by a number of new organizational capabilities and components, which in turn will be guided by the evolution of an organization's digital strategy. Focus group members and experts both agree that the success of a particular strategy depends less on the technologies involved and more on the ability to implement them innovatively by rethinking strategy, culture, and talent (Kane et al. 2015a; Kiron et al. 2013a). As one researcher explained, "It's not about acquiring technology, but reconfiguring your business to take advantage of the information new technologies enable. Digital technologies must be integrated across people, processes, and functions to achieve an important business advantage" (Press 2016a). The focus group identified eight capabilities and components which, although not digital strategy per se, need to be in place and interacting with digital strategy in order for it to be a success: A Data and Analytics Strategy, Pervasive Relationship Management, Supportive Culture, New Capabilities, Support for Experimentation, Flexible Architecture, Rapid Development and Implementation, and Improved Measurement. 1. A Data and Analytics Strategy Data and analytics are essential to digital strategy for two reasons. First, they support informed decision-making, improved customer experience, and process improvement (Wade 2016: Wixom 2016). Second, the data created by digital initiatives enable new opportunities that will guide the evolution of a digital strategy. As we have noted elsewhere, there are four major sets of issues related to data that must be addressed: policy, operations, stewardship, and standards. Each of these will guide the decisions that are made about data and must in turn be informed by a specific strategic approach and focus that is set at a high level in the organization. Like digital strategy, a data and analytics strategy is a journey, not a one-off project, which grows and evolves with the direction of the company. A healthy respect for data and the ability to use it well at all levels of the organization contributes to organization performance. However, a data and analytics strategy is essential not only to delivering immediate value to the business, but also to putting the pieces in place that will enable new digital business strategies in the future. 2. Pervasive Relationship Management Digital technologies are putting pressure on companies to provide a unified global customer experience, which in turn helps them engage with the world no matter where they're located (Hirt and Willmott 2014; Press 2016b). Because of this, companies need to rethink their network of business relationships and how they incorporate partnerships to create value. Furthermore, digital business also increases the interconnections between people, organizations, and devices to enable new products, services, and business models (Blosch and Burton 2016). To take advantage of these new opportunities, companies need to create and reach out to their business ecosystems - organizations, people, and technology platforms - for ideas, information, skills, and delivery assistance. There are many different ways companies can connect with their broader community, such as (Blosch and Burton 2016): . Platform ecosystems that provide a foundational platform for other ecosystem members to develop complementary products and services Innovation ecosystems that access capabilities and talents from outside the organization, often from unexpected fields Interest ecosystems that create interest around a company's products and services and which can also serve as a source of new ideas . Commercial ecosystems that are formed by complementary organizations to deliver products and services . Device ecosystems that connect consumers and organizations Understanding, building, and managing these ecosystems are therefore essential for a company to develop in order to deliver its desired digital future.3. Supportive Culture Digital strategy means signicant business transformation and that means supporting new ways of thinking. working. and leading. said focus group members. Typically= digital strategies require high levels of collaboration across organizational silos and especially between business and IT. Often. organizations are risk intolerant and so they shy away from some of the recommended digital implementation activities. such as rapid development and implementation. or experimentation (Kane et al. 2015b). Cultural change is notoriously difficult to achieve in traditional organizational structures and therefore requires significant and focused efforts to incent desired behaviors (Kane et al. 2015a). This starts with leadership. said the focus group. Often the biggest cultural problems arise at the top levels of the organization Leaders can fail to keep up with new technologies and trends because these lie outside their personal comfort zones. As a result. many employees believe that their leadeis don"t have the skills and abilities to lead digital change (Kane et al. 2015a) and that few leaders are aleit to the threats and opportunities of a changing digital environment (Wade 2016). The focus group stressed that education and clear communication are essential to changing culture. Attention should also be paid to processes and incentives that inhibit collaboration. experimentation: and risk-taking. as well as data sharing and usage. In short. if cultural change is to be realized. people must understand the new corporate strategy. what the new expectations of their behavior will be= and how these will be rewarded. 4. Sew Capabilities There is widespread agreement that digital capabilities will increasingly determine which companies create or lose value (Hirt and Willmott 2014). Companies have begun to recognize that they will need a new set of competenCies to develop and deliver on a digital agenda. l-'Iost of these require an understanding of both business and technology and the ability to bridge the gaps between the two that often plague organizations. There is no clear agreement about where these skills should reside. only that they are needed. First and foremost. companies need people who can understand and conceptualize how digital technologies can affect current business models (Kane et al. 2015a). These people need to cultivate "hyperawareness" of their industry. business. and technical environment as well as listen for new ideas from employees. partners. customers. and ecosystems (Kiron et al. 2013a; Wade 2016). Second. organizations need to upgrade their I- { practices to identify and acquire the new capabilities they will need both internally and externally. \"We are not clear about what exactly we will be doing in the future." saic a manager. \"but we can plan to have the skills available to take advantage of them." Many of the skills organizations will need are \"soft" skills rather than specific knowledge or technical skills. These include: ability to collaborate and share; willingness to experiment and take risks. ability to work in a fast-paced. distributed environment; and ability to 3e both exible and disciplined. Third. organizations must increase efforts to cross-pollinate staff skills in order to expand their awareness of context and broaden their skill set ( 3ress 20l6a). For example. IT staff could go on sales calls and interact with customers; and business people could go on vendor visits. Developing these new capabilities will be crucial to the success of any digital strategy. concluded the focus group 5. Support for Experimentation Since there is considerable uncertainty about the potential of digital technology to drive all sorts of business transformation. organizations are being urged to develop practices that would enable them to quickly absorb. test. and adopt emerging technologies (Press 2016a). This is a complex challenge that few companies do well. It involves establishing a mechanism to cultivate. evaluate. and integrate innovation (both business and technical) that combines what is desirable for users. what is viable in the marketplace. and what is possible with technology. Furthermore. it requires that IT is competent to explore emerging technologies with an eye to understanding their future potential. One of the best ways of accomplishing both is through the design. development. and implementation of experiments or prototypes. which are specifically focused on answering one or all of these questions. Experiments require a radical change in organizational philosophy in order to accept failures. learn from mistakes. and quickly pivot. as well as a radical change in IT practices to deliver rapidly and to be flexible. 6. Flexible Architecture Architecture is usually the function in IT that is charged with assessing emerging technologies and providing the infrastructure that will support experiments (Smith and Watson 2015). It has traditionally been responsible for ensuring a stable infrastructure and promoting standardization that can enable improved secuiity. privacy. and integration. while reducing costly maintenance and outages However. in the digital world many business users. tired of waiting for IT to deliver. simply use their credit cards to buy the software and technology they want. thereby circumventing architectural plans. As well. many new technologies are now delivered through the cloud. apps. sensors. and mobile. which have their own infrastructure and standards. Increased flexibility is required for enterprise architects to anticipate and plan for the larger architectural implications ofnew technologies (Kiron et al. 2013b) as well as for finding ways to ensure that integration and stability are still a focus (Kane et al. 2015b). 7. Rapid Development And [Implementation IT development work is currently undergoing a sea change to accommodate digital technologies; new ways of exploring their value; and new business and customer expectations; said the focus group. This is because the ability to develop and implement new products and services on an iterative basis is essential to the success of any digital strategy (Press 2016a;b). Many IT organizations are now using agile development methodologies; which involve developing deliverable pieces of mctionality in short inteivals; and require active business participation. However; as development productivity improved; a new bottleneck implementation has emerged. It now appears that operations functions also need to adopt agile processes to facilitate the rapid introduction of iterative products and services and incorporate experiments. Known as DevOps; this new set of practices incorporates operations staff into a development team to ensure the speedy transition of new development output into implementation. Taken together; agile development and DevOps will result in IT organizations that work more productively and flexibly than the IT organizations of the past. 8. Improved )Ieasurement l'leasurement of the impact ofthe different components of a digital strategy is a challenge (Kiron et al. 2013b). Nevertheless; it is incumbent on business and technical leaders to begin to design measures that will provide them with positive or negative feedback on their digital initiatives as soon as possible; said the focus group. Slembers stressed that the metrics involved should be business measures for which both business and 11' are held accountable; not technical ones. And with digital initiatives. daily or weekly metrics are most important. rather than the more traditional monthly or quarterly measures [Baggi 2014). The group recommended identifying a small number of metrics and then evaluating and evolving them over time. Asking the key \"value questions"= what value will be delivered; where will value be delivered; who will deliver value; when will value be delivered; and finally; how will value be delivered 7 is a key starting point to focus initial efforts. Taken together; these new practices and components that are required to successfully execute a digital strategy underscore the scope and nature of the transformation that will be involved with a digital strategy; particularly in IT. Clearly; such significant changes will be difficult to accomplish while at the same time continuing to sustain business as usual something akin to changing the engine of an airplane while in midair; said the focus group. Nevertheless; this is precisely what is being asked oftoday"s organizations. The challenges are immense; the group agreed. \"The field is moving so fast; you can't keep up;'"' said one. \"It's very hard to get a shared vision of change:= said another; "and piecemeal approaches miss the mark."1 I-Iowever; otheis noted that their organizations have capabilities that they-"re not taking advantage of. \"Our biggest problem is that we need skills to integrate what we already have? said a manager. All participants believed that their organizations must be responsive to the new digital world. "Vt-Te can't stay where we a.re;"= said a manager. "III-"e cannot lead or influence if we are focused on traditional business applications and operations and ways ofworking." Conclusion \"-"ith digital technologies; organizations are aware that digital business is likely to disrupt every industry. The radical changes required and the uncertainties involved have created a sense of unease in even wellestablished businesses. There is no doubt that technology will be at the center of whatever happens in a digital strategy. The question is; where will IT be? In the past; IT functions have been guilty of dragging their heels when radical changes are proposed. Today; there is a huge opportunity for IT to demonstrate its value to the organization and to become a true business partner in leading and catalyzing the business. But IT leaders and staff must rise to the challenge with vision; education; business awareness; and significant internal change