Finding opportunity in adversity is a well explored theme. From Ryan Holiday in his book The Obstacle is the Way, to Beyonce singing about making Lemonade from lemons, it is well recognized that when things get tough that the best ideas, the greatest solutions and the strongest bonds are formed. Albert Einstein himself said, “Out of clutter find simplicity, from discord make harmony, in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”

How an organization faces a challenging situation like economic pressures brought about by contracting economies, inflation, impacted resources or supply chain is in how they frame it - is it a problem or an opportunity?

Digital adds an additional dimension to this – new approaches are constantly presenting themselves and are often seen as the next great solution to a particular challenge. There is a constant feeling of “needing to keep up”. However, as digital gets more sophisticated, most organizations only use a tiny fraction of the potential and power of the technology they are investing in.

The pandemic was a catalyst for digital transformation and technology investment to solve the problem of how to keep functioning and thriving during a worldwide shutdown. But now organizations have found that they have inherited technical debt (cost required to rework shortcuts that were taken), people debt (inefficiencies to support employees to do their best work) and process debt (improvements no longer being actively worked on). Organizations still need to unwind this, whilst dealing with reduced costs. In many ways, times feel even harder than during the pandemic. And in many cases, the simplest answer is right there under our noses – rapidly evolving the usage of technology that has already been invested in, to show more value and solve more problems.

So, what are the right digital initiative steps that an organization can take now and is it even possible to create greater value faster with digital innovation when resources are limited?

In their research MIT Center for Information Systems Research (MIT CISR) validates that yes, it can be done. Part of achieving greater value, faster, involves leaders focusing on projects that not only enable their organizations to address immediate risks and opportunities, but also promote long-term efficiencies whilst also providing more relevant data led insights.

Organizations need to rapidly cut through complexity and show impact by doing more with less, and by making the most of what they have got.

Avanade Advisory delivers practical help for clients across a multitude of industries to make the most of continual change and their existing Microsoft investment. Where significant investment has already been made, we can work together to quickly drive more, continuing value, by focusing on what needs to be done and the most practical way to do it.

To help unlock this, we are launching our Avanade Business Value Amplifier services, which can transform a business challenge to value realization within four weeks.

• Supercharge Value Realization – Helps companies get more out of their existing Microsoft technology to demonstrate value and drive innovation.
• Readiness for Continual Change – Assists companies in evaluating their ability to adapt to ongoing change and determine the necessary steps to be prepared for change.
• Data Monetization – Helps organizations develop a plan and improve skills to make companies' data-driven businesses more successful and generate new income, while transforming traditional business practices.
• Digital Culture – Improves organizations’ company culture by teaching employees to use technology effectively, through coaching, learning and collaboration to meet the organization's objectives.
• Sustainability Quick-start – Supports organizations to achieve their sustainability ambitions by rapidly prioritizing practical actions and scaling new innovations, based on insights generated from the Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability and other data sources.

Find out how we help our clients define what matters or contact us to help turn uncertain times into moments of opportunity.