Organisations of all shapes and sizes and across all industries have had to change the way they work in 2020.
For many businesses, that has involved shifting a significant proportion, if not all, of its workforce to remote working. In fact, as a Forbes Council post by Ziv Kedem, founder and chief executive officer of Zerto, noted, 2020 has resulted in many organisations undergoing major digital transformations.
What’s more remarkable, is that the vast majority of these digital transformations were unplanned, with businesses forced to act quickly due to the unfolding global pandemic.
As Mr Kedem noted: “Imagine going to business and HR leaders at the start of the year and proposing that they switch their entire workforce to remote work within a few weeks. The idea would have seemed ludicrous, as would the notion that a whole range of positives could emerge from the process.”
However, this is, of course, exactly what happened at the end of March and now many business heads are converts to the concept of digital transformation.
Mr Kedem argued that we have reached a “once-in-a-generation fork in the road for IT”, where the options are to return to the “old normal”, where a reluctance to embrace new technology holds businesses back, or to take a fresh look at our IT strategies.
With the latter approach, it’s an opportunity to identify and fix the “challenges that impede progress and limit information security and safety”, he asserted.
Business leaders need to explore the options for introducing new technology to their organisations and thereby allow them to recover more quickly from the impact of the pandemic.
There is already evidence that companies are speeding up their digital transformation activities. Computer Weekly recently shared the findings of a survey conducted by Vanson Bourne and commissioned by Dynatrace, which found that in the past year 89 per cent of CIOs stated that their digital transformation had accelerated.
What’s more, over half (58 per cent) said that they expect the pace to continue to speed up.
The news provider also cited a study by Dell, which found that 89 per cent of UK business leaders believe that they need to make their IT infrastructure more agile and scalable. They came to this realisation as a result of the pandemic.
According to the research, which was carried out in July and August this year, before the pandemic the vast majority of IT investment was in “foundational technologies” as opposed to emerging technologies.
The need to adapt business models rapidly has clearly highlighted the value of emerging technology to organisations that may otherwise have been slow to introduce new technology or alter their IT strategies.
EMEA president of Dell Technologies Adrian McDonald told the news provider that those businesses that had successful business models before the pandemic have typically weathered the storm well, while those that were struggling are now experiencing even greater challenges.
If you’re exploring your options and looking for support as you develop an IT strategy in London, or elsewhere in the UK, get in touch with our team of experts to find out how we can help and support your business as it evolves.
