Page 13 - EngineerIt March 2021

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

The South African study also records a modest
drop (3 percent) in the number of digital laggards Doug Woolley, Managing Director, South Africa
(the least digitally mature group) since 2018 and at Dell Technologies
a fall in the second to last group, digital followers,
by 13 percentage points. These organisations are
moving up into the digital adopter group, which has “The Digital Transformation Index
expanded significantly. 2020 survey for South Africa,
undertaken in November and
Barriers to transformation December 2020, is particularly
The pandemic may have catalysed digital pertinent as it clearly shows that
transformation, but continuous transformation is proving organisations across the country have
difficult to sustain; globally, 94 percent of organisations already begun to roll out significant
are facing entrenched barriers to transformation. In digitalisation initiatives to drive
South Africa, the barriers cited include: business transformation. These
1. Lack of budget and resources (up from second initiatives will start to take shape in
place in 2018) 2021. In many cases South African
2. Lack of economic growth (a new entry since 2018) organisations surveyed are ahead of
3. Lack of the right technology solutions to work the global average and can be seen to
at the speed of business (a jump of four places be advocating digital transformation
since 2018). initiatives. Given the pace of change
today and the constant risk of falling
Responding in an uncertain world behind, we at Dell Technologies are enabling our customers to be more
Prior to the pandemic, business investments were competitive, optimise costs and drive innovation.”
strongly focused on foundational technologies, rather
than emerging technologies. The majority (84 percent) Research methodology
of South African organisations surveyed recognise During July and August of 2020, Dell Technologies partnered with
that as a result of the disruption this year, they need a independent research company Vanson Bourne to survey 4,300
more agile and scalable IT infrastructure to allow for business leaders from mid-size to enterprise organisations across 18
contingencies. The findings also show that they are countries – creating a global benchmark indicating businesses’ status of
far more likely to invest in emerging technologies in transformation.
the next one to three years than the global average In November and December 2020, a further 1 000 respondents were
surveyed, to become digital enterprises of the future interviewed from Israel, Russia, Saudi Arabia/UAE, South Africa and
(listed below in order of priority): Korea. Vanson Bourne classified businesses’ digital business efforts by
1. 5G infrastructure (47 percent) examining their IT strategies, workforce transformation initiatives and
2. Artificial intelligence algorithms (46 percent) perceived performance against a core set of digital business attributes.
3. Real-time applications at the Edge (44 percent) This is the third instalment of the DT Index (the inaugural study in 2016
4. Cybersecurity solutions (42 percent) was followed by the second DT Index in 2018).
5. Data management tools to transform data into
something that is useful and protected (38 percent) Digital Transformation Comes Down to Talent in 4 Key Areas
Digital transformation requires talent. Assembling the right team
Recognising the importance of emerging of people in four domains — technology, data, process people, and
technologies, a high proportion of respondents in organisational change capacity — may be the single most important
South Africa (66 percent) believe remote learning step that a company contemplating digital transformation can take.
will become more common in the next three to five Each of these areas require a certain set of skills.
years. This could pave the way for wider educational In the technology domain, you need people with technological
opportunities for employees and students in the depth and breadth, and the ability to work hand-in-hand with
country. In addition, 62 percent see data privacy the business. Leaders of the technology domain must be great
emerging as a protected basic human right and communicators, and they must have strategic sense. You’ll need this
61 percent feel we will be part of a more globally same breadth and depth in the next domain: data. You also need
connected, remote workforce. the ability to convince large numbers of people at the front lines of
Organisations in South Africa are also more organizations to take on new roles as data customers and data creators.
likely to have completed their most recent round When considering the next domain/process, look for the ability
of investment in digital technology, including AI, to “herd cats” – to align silos and to know when incremental process
Edge, digital services and digital workplace, when improvement is sufficient or when radical process reengineering
compared to their global peers. But it appears to be is necessary. Finally, for organizational change capability, look for
the greater rate of investment in data management leadership, teamwork, courage, emotional intelligence and other
and analytics where South African organisations elements of change management. n
(49 percent) are better at predictively spotting
new opportunities. Only 36 percent of global Thomas H. Davenport and Thomas C. Redman Harvard Business Review
organisations are doing the same. n

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