A connected enterprise isn’t just about the employee experience and providing staff with the tools they need— it’s also about external customer experience.
Today, IT is responsible for creating a consistent and connected customer journey by enabling the entire enterprise to take part in delivering that experience.
CONNECTION WITH CUSTOMERS
Interconnected, swift, seamless
A generator of ideas and invention
A driver of quality employee and customer experience
In a connected enterprise, collaboration is:
IT’s cross-company lens cuts through silos and enables connection and collaboration across all business functions and teams.
IT serves as the central innovation team and synchronizes tools, systems and processes to connect every employee regardless of where they work.
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ARCHANA RAO
CIO, ATLASSIAN
Today, employees and customers expect a seamless, interconnected and digital experience. Given IT’s central location and company-wide visibility, we have an opportunity to deliver this experience not only for a program or department, but for the entire company. It’s now our job to help create a connected enterprise.”
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SHOBHANA AHLUWALIA
CIO, PELOTON
A connected enterprise is where you don’t really have a divide between your front and your back offices. It’s an enterprise where we can connect with our customers, our employees, our business partners—a connected vendor ecosystem where we can have easy interaction back and forth and quickly respond to market signals.”
CIO PERSPECTIVE
What's A Connected Enterprise?
Employees want to communicate and
work across functions, but people
also collaborate differently.
This means companies need to embrace people-first platforms that support a variety of collaboration styles and provide standardization, explains Ahluwalia.
To address this variability, Atlassian adopted an “open teamwork” model, where brainstorms and decisions are shared across functions, fostering unstructured interactions among staff and cross-company transparency and ideation.
Modernizing collaboration through human-centered technology—including office productivity tools, video conferencing platforms, file synchronization and sharing solutions, content management apps and more—empowers companies to design experiences that unlock less fragmented workflows and bring people together.
CONNECTION ACROSS TEAMS
Fuels bright ideas
Builds synchronized solutions
Distributes innovation throughout the company
In a connected enterprise, human connection:
People-first, digital collaboration makes it simple for staff to exchange ideas, untangle problems and cultivate meaningful relationships that benefit business transformation.
As teamwork becomes increasingly digital, companies should put people at the heart of their collaboration management tools.
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ARCHANA RAO
CIO, ATLASSIAN
As CIOs, we’re at the heart of transformation, but we weren't traditionally thinking much about how engagement, the connectedness of people and relationships work within companies. But if we make interpersonal connections natural, tech can enable these magical moments where people come together, spark ideas and build something great.”
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SHOBHANA AHLUWALIA
CIO, PELOTON
When we connect people in every way, we then connect processes and systems. And that gives rise to a beautiful company culture, which is quick, responsive and intelligent. CIOs should think about the processes and the tools we can use to foster unstructured connections and deepen relationships.”
CIO PERSPECTIVE
How Does Teamwork Power The Connected Enterprise?
Both Rao and Ahluwalia say CIOs can cultivate a connected enterprise in several ways.
Peloton is embracing flexible work models for its employees when they return to the office, for example. Atlassian is implementing a “Team Anywhere” model, in which individuals will have the choice of working from home or in the office based on their preferences and needs. As a result, offices will serve more as collaboration spaces.
CIOs, like their organizations, must be nimble to accommodate trends in remote teamwork. This will involve experimenting, failing fast, rebounding faster and integrating cutting-edge tools to “remove the friction in employee collaboration and spark creativity, regardless of where we’re working,” explains Rao. “It’s important to remember that we’re not just building technology, we’re building experiences that require a people-first mentality.”
CONNECTION IN ACTION
Hire passionate, engaged talent
Integrate tools that foster relationships
Embed a shared vision company-wide
To cultivate a connected enterprise, the CIO should:
The CIO can cultivate relationships across teams, standardize tools and establish a shared language so that everyone can bring their big ideas to the table.
CIOs are more than tech visionaries—they’re also collaboration leaders focused on building creative teams. This means that hiring the right talent is a priority.
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ARCHANA RAO
CIO, ATLASSIAN
Number one is talent and tapping into their passion and innovation. Without the right people, you’re not going to be successful in any transformation.
Make sure you’re hiring staff that aligns with your company values, knows how to navigate the organization and wants to connect and build something. Second is culture. Create an open, autonomous company culture that provides an environment for people to experiment.”
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SHOBHANA AHLUWALIA
CIO, PELOTON
Your employee experience shouldn’t be any different than your customer experience. At Peloton, we hire the best and brightest employees, and we recognize that they could have chosen any other organization. Optimizing employee experience should be our North Star and they should have a frictionless work environment. Our job as CIOs is to find platforms that most people can use, make them easy to use, create standardization and deepen relationships via those processes.”
CIO PERSPECTIVE
What's The CIO's Role In The Connected Enterprise?