Digital business platforms, which unify the in-house and external information technology (IT) resources of companies, enable firms to adopt new technologies and systems, while retaining the use of their existing systems, says multinational IT company Software AG South Africa CTO Patrick Shields.

A digital business platform is a business technology layer introduced across a company’s IT systems that aligns a company’s business directives with its IT resources and enables them to be used in a holistic and complementary manner.

This integration of IT systems also enables the business to extract and use detailed and specific information on clients and of the business itself to determine responses and initiatives to drive further business growth or value, he adds.

“The old ‘build or buy’ paradigm is shifting owing to the rapid pace of change. No one can anticipate which new technology will sweep others aside, and a single technology can affect many different systems simultaneously, including older, proven and newer systems.

“This high cadence of change, business pressures to innovate and client demands for better value and services require that companies make the most of all their systems, new, old, built, bought or rented, effectively and holistically,” he says.

New business technology solutions must either solve business problems or introduce new business capabilities. This, Shields avers, is where Software AG’s platform is effective, and enables companies to leverage the best options for their business and long-term strategies.

“Companies are highly varied and require tools to enable them to pursue their own unique business plans, not the generic plans of their software or hardware vendors. Yet, simultaneously, these companies cannot risk being threatened by emerging and new technologies and require ways of adopting such systems and adapting to changing conditions rapidly, in full cognisance of their available resources and capabilities.”

A digital business platform provides companies with broad, strategic capabilities and acts as a basis for the in-house development of new business tools using existing systems and data to derive greater value and insight.

“A digital business platform enables companies to innovate. Digitisation is a significant trend among businesses in all industries, as identified by [IT research firm] Gartner. “The companies that are thriving are the ones that understand their customers and their needs best. Thus, a digital business platform provides this ability to wrap, reuse and harvest the stable and trusted business logic maintained in older systems and use it as innovation content for new processes or applications, such as customer experience management, continuous controls monitoring and other Internet of Things solutions.”

Shields advises companies to adopt an “end-user design” approach when designing new IT systems or applications to ensure that they bolster the work of the end-users, not act as an additional drag on their time.

“When designing new tools, investigate the trouble points or time-consuming portions of the work of end-users. Where appropriate, automate functions, but always work with the end- users’ and in full cognisance of their needs and the processes they are involved in executing.”