World events, and specifically the pandemic, have highlighted vulnerabilities in businesses models, and organizations that were once efficient suddenly became fragile at a time when they needed to be flexible. A recent Gartner survey showed that 84% of organizations have had to adjust their business operations in response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Organizations must now deliver innovation quickly and adapt applications dynamically - reassembling capabilities from inside and outside the enterprise. To do this, organizations must understand and implement the “composable enterprise.” According to Gartner, Composable Enterprise means “An organization that delivers business outcomes and adapts to the pace of business change”.

With this blog, learn how transforming your business into a composable enterprise can help you increase revenue, reduce costs, become more agile, and improve collaboration so your organization can succeed in years to come.

Develop a long-term vision for your composable enterprise

The composable enterprise will manifest in different ways for different organizations, based on the dynamics of their business strategy and the competitive nature of the markets in which they operate. A critical first step is to define the longer-term vision for what the composable enterprise will be for your organization.

Ask key questions to help your organization understand the broader market and technology impacts that will inform and influence your composable enterprise, such as:

• How will the markets we operate in evolve over the next three to five years, and how will that change the competitive landscape?
• How does our business strategy and operational structure need to change to reflect the changing market dynamics?
• What new business models are we pursuing? What new markets do we plan to penetrate?

Accelerate digital transformation

The pace of technological advancement has continued to increase, putting pressure on enterprises to adapt faster and evolve to meet the changing needs of customers. Gartner has already predicted that the number of organizations transitioning from on-premises to cloud applications will increase from 2020 to 2021 by 20% because of pandemic related business pressure.

As organizations start to undergo digital transformation, IT leaders must modernize the application portfolio to operate at the pace of business change. New business opportunities require agility from application portfolios. Yet many businesses today are limited in their ability to adapt, often due to their application portfolios being bloated, difficult to change and aligned to the strategy of the past.

For example, according to this Gartner report, enterprise resource planning applications (ERPs) have historically missed the mark in multiple ways. They have fallen short on the ability to plan, design and execute with real-time responsiveness. So, what must application leaders managing their ERP strategy do to deliver capabilities that enable the business to survive and thrive? They must prepare for the era of composable ERP.

Engage business and application leaders

The composable enterprise is changing the workforce in several ways, including:

• IT and business leaders must align around common goals
• Vendors, technical staff, and freelance workers must collaborate at rapid pace
• New management methodologies are required to enable speed of change
• Application-specific and additional technical partners are necessary to scale
• Innovation teams built around proof-of-concept efforts can inform the broader business

In order to adapt, business leaders must address the talent gap that many organizations currently face. A critical component for the long-term success of a composable enterprise includes mapping business needs, target outcomes, and related technology with a workforce and vendors prepared to innovate.

On the other side, application leaders must modernize the application portfolio to ensure it operates at the pace of business change and to deliver the future strategy of the organization. According to a Gartner report, even before the pandemic, application leaders were struggling with their ERP strategy. They were increasingly pressured to adapt their ERP support teams and applications to the ongoing crisis, yet still prepare for growth as an outcome.

Application leaders now need applications that they can compose, recompose and extend. This will allow them to innovate and adapt to the changing needs of the business. By defining business capabilities through road mapping exercises with business leaders they can accelerate business outcomes.

What’s next for your composable enterprise?

At Enable, our vision is to reshape how B2B deals are deployed, managed and measured to help both sides of the trading relationship succeed. The use of software to facilitate collaboration and boost financial performance has never been more important than in the current climate. With Enable we can help you on your digital transformation journey and help you adapt and respond quickly than ever before to maximize the performance of your B2B deals while improving financial transparency and operational efficiency.