Johannesburg, 16 Apr 2020
Our entire industry has been making a push for transition to the cloud for some time now. As a part of digital transformation, cloud and other related services saw an increased uptake over several years. Moreover, their use was turning into a main business function instead of just a backup or fail-over solution.
Then we were suddenly beset by a game-changer: a pandemic. One that required a lot of isolation. Unlike multiple other industries, digital tech has the capability to keep going. What's more, it can also enable other industries to do the same. But do its people have the capacity to do so successfully? And does the technology live up to its hype?
Digital transformation necessitated change
Most organisations operating with a technology base will tell you that remote access is always part of their requirements. Some will go so far as to offer it as a value proposition when leveraging their services. It's no surprise, therefore, that the recent approaches to innovation and development have built this as a feature from the very beginning.
Think about a business-oriented productivity suite, such as Microsoft's Office 365. One of its key elements is the ability to reduce turnaround time in collaborative tasks. It achieves this by enabling access to the same information across all parties and allowing them to effect changes in real-time.
You'll also see that tasks associated with troubleshooting and system reconfiguration are enabled this way. Consider the rise of SD-WAN (software-defined wide area network) as a cloud-friendly model for network deployment, for example. While this may not be a complete alternative to traditional models, it does open up benefits such as a single point of control and more rapid deployments.
We still need "stuff" though
There's another sector which digital transformation affects widely: retail. A large number of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) within retail are by their very nature essential. They typically sell quickly and are used by many. Because of this, retailers had to adopt a plan to keep their supply flowing enough to meet demand.
Coupled with a relatively easy switch to online platforms and e-commerce, it's easy to see how a significant portion of the retail sector used digital means to change their FMCG model and carry on trading. What's more, this ensures their business continuity, adaptation and relative security for their staff.
People and their adaptation
While it's all well and good to have the means to go digital, it means very little without proper buy-in from those working with it. The recent transition phase of digital transformation wasn't the smoothest for most, probably because it was very sudden, unplanned and rather forced. Without proper trial periods, many participants ran afoul of teething problems and adjustment difficulties.
Thankfully, a treasure trove of useful information on the subject suddenly found itself being promulgated wildly. People were privy to the best ideas and recommendations as to how to enable their functions remotely. Even recently, publications abound with stories about the current situation and how to make the most of it.
For those who embraced digital transformation, it's been a roller-coaster ride of learning to use new tools and processes. Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, it's an era of adjustment to the remote working paradigm. Stresses such as feelings of isolation and performance anxiety are common.
The best way to deal with all of these remains the same: frequent, thorough and supportive communication. After all, at either end of any type of communication is a human being, and those communicating needs to take both that and the current situation into consideration. If you create an atmosphere as close to the original as possible, whether socially or in terms of company culture, those involved are far more likely to be able to cope without too much hassle.
Adept continues our business as close as possible to the previous norm, and we are proud of our successful integration of our company's working model, culture and the available digital resources at our disposal. We can therefore remain strongly committed to providing exceptional service and satisfaction to our clients, to whom we are always thankful for their ongoing support!
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