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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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