“Anil Cheriyan started leading large-scale digital transformations long before most IT leaders had ever heard the term.  As the former CIO of SunTrust and current leader of a government technology transformation with a budget in the tens of billions (USD), Cheriyan clearly knows what’s required for success and how to overcome the hurdles that commonly arise.

At Tricentis Accelerate Vienna, Europe’s largest automation conference, Cheriyan shared his digital transformation insights and advice in a keynote entitled Tackling Digital Transformation Today. Here’s a recap of his key points on what’s essential for digital transformation success, what roadblocks threaten to hold you back, and how to break through those roadblocks.

The 6 Core Elements for Digital Transformation

1. Focus on Transforming the Customer Experience – No matter what kind of technology stack you’re dealing with, your primary focus should be on how the customer views your organization. If you lack that omnichannel view of the client perspective, you’re not achieving the level of digital transformation that’s vital for survival in today’s digital economy.

2. Move to the Cloud – It’s essential to examine your infrastructure and move to the cloud. Five to ten years ago, IT leaders considered the cloud a major risk. Since then, it has become increasingly clear that cloud is critical for speed to market and flexibility. For example, a large agency I work with previously had about 35 data centers. As part of the digital transformation, we narrowed it down to 2 data centers and we have about 70% of the workloads in the cloud. This was a massive change, but it was an essential component of the transformation.”

The article: An Insider’s Insights on Proven Digital Transformation Strategies