Johannesburg, 13 Nov 2020
While 2020 has been a uniquely challenging moment in history, Dell believes that if organisations move quickly to digitally transform, there is reason to be optimistic about the coming ‘data decade’.
This is according to Doug Woolley, Managing Director of Dell Technologies South Africa, who was speaking ahead of the upcoming Dell Technologies digital forum.
“With so much at stake, businesses have shifted their digital transformation into high gear and have already accomplished in a few short months what would normally have taken them years. Now we need to maintain that momentum. The recent Dell Technologies Digital Transformation Index shows that 80% of businesses fast-tracked at least some of their digital transformation programmes this year, with a focus on cyber security, remote work capabilities and reinvented digital experiences for customers and employees. There was an increase in Digital Leaders and Digital Adopters and a decline in Digital Followers,” he said. The past year highlighted that agile and scalable IT environments made organisations more resilient, and has helped drive the focus on digital transformation.
“However, there are still a lot of concerns, including data privacy and security, budget, gaining insights from data, and a lack of skills. A lack of economic growth is a new priority in the list of top hurdles in the way of transformation. In addition, around half of businesses fear that they didn’t transition fast enough, nearly one in three businesses is worried they may not survive the next few years, while most are worried they risk shedding jobs and may take years to return to profitability,” he said.
Dell Technologies believes that digital transformation is crucial – not only to support business resilience in the face of disruption, but also to transform human progress.
Michael Dell, Chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies, in his vision for the next data decade to 2030, has stated: “We’ve been given a glimpse of the future, and the organisations that are accelerating their digital transformation now will be poised for success in the data era that is unfolding before our eyes.”
Dell noted that currently, 86 petabytes moves across the cellular network in 18 hours, and that this would increase to 86 petabytes in 10 minutes just 10 years from now. “That's a 52 000 times increase in the amount of data. This is why we call it the next data decade,” he said.
He said that while this tsunami of data held incredible promise to advance humanity more than any force, at any time in human history, without data integration or co-ordination, this data would just be ‘noise and chaos’. “The integration and the security of data are really our biggest challenges going forward. And we believe Dell Technologies is the only company with the capability to do this,” he said.
Dell will host the annual Dell Technologies Forum online on 25 November, with a range of keynotes and interactive breakout sessions. There will also be 10 McLaren and Dell Technologies branded light jackets up for grabs at the virtual event. Register now on ITWeb, attend the Dell Technologies Forum on November 25 from 10:00am – 12:00pm and you could be a lucky winner.
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