By KT Ong
THE COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly impacted every industry across the globe, altering day-to-day business functions, forcing many to rethink their business model and more importantly, the need to be agile and efficient in responding to changes.
Adaptability has proven to be the key to moving forward. The Dell Technologies 2020 Digital Transformation Index (DT Index), revealed how businesses have changed, what they’re grappling with and the path forward to emerging successfully in the new digital landscape.
The sheer scale of the pandemic coupled with its abruptness has understandably taken a toll on companies, with many folding under the revised expectations and mandates of doing business during a pandemic.
Additionally, the lack of investment in digital processes is one of the primary reasons for so many companies’ unsteady performances.
As we adapt to the evolving nature of business, it is becoming clear that enterprises that were already investing in digital and advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and edge computing, are faring better than those who didn’t.
Almost one in four (38%) senior directors at midsize to enterprise companies in Asia Pasific-Japan (APJ) are worried their organisation may not survive the next couple of years. A majority (68%) believe they will survive but will be badly bruised, cutting down jobs and taking years to return to profitability.
The message for businesses is clear: adapt or fall behind.
In fact, adapting is exactly what many midsize and enterprise companies are doing, according to the DT Index.
In APJ, eight in 10 businesses have fast-tracked some digital transformation programs in 2020, and 86% are reinventing their business model.
The implications are wide-ranging – these companies would need flexible providers, a supply chain that can cope with a sudden ramp-up and internal resources to manage these unexpected changes to routine business processes.
That said, organisations in APJ should not lose sight of hidden obstacles, as most (94%) face barriers to digitisation.
The big hurdles here include data privacy and cybersecurity concerns, lack of money and resources, and an inability to extract useful information from data.
The last point is especially intriguing, as 93% of businesses agree that garnering valuable insights from data will be more important than ever before.
The barriers apply to the workforce as well. While 89% of APJ senior management executives surveyed are proud of the way in which their teams and organisations have adapted their digital strategies, the rush to digitise in the wake of the pandemic has been costly.
About half (54%) of the senior directors surveyed worry their team members are at risk of burnout from the pressures to adapt to new IT strategies during challenging times and the rise of remote work.
Given the many pressures on today’s leaders, it is critical to consider support measures. Here’s how businesses can alleviate barriers to adaptability:
Create a consistent company-wide culture without silos. Strong digital leadership is essential to identify timely solutions to get the business firmly on the path to digitisation. Given that less than a third of leaders surveyed for the DT Index communicate with the C-suite to select suitable projects, the need for ownership for the process is apparent.
Having strong digital leadership alone is not enough. Silos, even in the C-suite, need to be addressed so that the responsibilities of digital transformation do not rest solely with a chief data officer.
Commit to reinforcing agile practices. While the move to remote work has rebooted this conversation, it is now time to really focus efforts on collaborative and quick solutions to challenges.
Senior business leaders should be able to lean on scalable IT infrastructure that can respond to uncertain events—ranging from pandemics to natural disasters and outages. Organisations in APJ have a way to go – while 73% of those interviewed have started investing in on-demand digital services, less than half are in the mature stages.
Focus on AI and edge computing. Greater focus on digital investment will help companies corral and process the data they are gathering and uncover key insights. Being mired in data is no longer an option.
Businesses of tomorrow undeniably need to be prepared for the uncertain, especially now in the wake of the pandemic we are facing.
We are seeing the unprecedented disruption to every level of society, business and the economy, but the key takeaway from the 2020 DT Index tells us that while these sudden disruptions cannot be avoided, they can be planned for.
DT Index is a good indicator of how the rest of the region is progressing and as our nation charts a new path towards being ready for the data era, digital transformation will be key in ensuring an adaptable, competitive advantage for Malaysian businesses, now and into the future. – Dec 21, 2020
KT Ong is the country manager for Malaysia at Dell Technologies
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
