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WHICH ASPECT OF A DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION STRATEGY DO YOU THINK IS THE MOST CRITICAL PART ?
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Digital Transformation centres on creating new possibilities for an organisation . It is about embracing innovation , adopting more inventive business models , delivering engaging customer experiences and finding better ways of working . And while hardware will always remain important in this environment as the delivery mechanism for unlocking digital potential , it is the software that creates unlimited possibilities , providing organisations across industry sectors with the flexibility , freedom and control to support their transformation journeys .
The catalyst that has pushed Digital Transformation into the mainstream – as opposed to being predominantly associated with ICT and financial services organisations – has been the normalisation of remote working in 2020 . The COVID-19 pandemic
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IAN JANSEN VAN RENSBURG , SENIOR SYSTEMS ENGINEER MANAGER AND LEAD TECHNOLOGIST AT VMWARE SSA
and resultant lockdown conditions in many countries have necessitated a new approach to how companies operate . Fundamental to this is the distributed workforce where employees are no longer constrained by their physical office environment . Instead , organisations have had to adapt their systems and processes to manage those ‘ out of sight ’ workers to minimise the disruption to the business during the past several months .
A common misperception when it comes to Digital Transformation strategies is that it only involves technology . Yet , the extent at which remote working will likely be part of the ‘ new normal ’ for some time highlights the importance of keeping a people-centric approach in mind when looking at digital . Combining innovative technologies with a human focus is one of the most critical parts any Digital Transformation strategy must include .
Such has been the scale and rapid growth of the remote working environment , the proliferation of digital technologies and platforms in use have amplified
The extent at which remote working will likely be part of the ‘ new normal ’ for some time highlights the importance of keeping a peoplecentric approach in mind when looking at digital .
exponentially . As part of their focus on remaining operational , many companies have had to migrate elements ( if not all ) of their systems to the cloud . The ‘ work from anywhere ’ mindset means businesses have had to adopt more flexible BYOD arrangements . As a result , every new device connected to an enterprise network represents a possible attack vector for would-be hackers . This means Zero Trust security models will become even more important as we head into 2021 and beyond . Security is just one element that must be reimagined . The employee experience in fulfilling their roles and responsibilities while outside the traditional office environment must be front and centre . If people are to remain productive , they must have a similar working experience , regardless of where they are accessing the organisational back end from . Companies must therefore ensure their distributed workforce solutions deliver an integrated environment that encompasses security , employee experience , cloud access and data availability .
Soon enough , the term ‘ remote working ’ will simply give way to a world where working happens away from the office as a fixed and permanent environment .
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