Digital transformation has unleashed a new journey for organisations to explore. This hyper-connected world, where information is the commodity, enables organisations to accelerate the adoption of disruptive technologies and create opportunities to leverage these technologies across all aspects of their business.
The recent Business Day Focus 4.0 hybrid dialogue, in partnership with Johannesburg Business School (JBS), Eiffel Corp, Veeam® Software and Snapplify, put the spotlight on digital transformation as an investment for the future of your business in order to optimise efficiency and profitability.
JBS has a firm focus on digital transformation, reported Professor Arnesh Telukdarie, professor of digital business and research chair at Johannesburg Business School. The business school has long been focused on the SME sector. He explained that many of the same constraints that apply to larger organisations – a skills shortage, for example – also apply to smaller businesses when it comes to digital transformation. However, smaller enterprises are also constrained by limited finances while many have a degree of apprehension about what a digital transformation entails.
Industries that have digitally transformed have found a big market available to them, said Chris Norton, regional director for Africa at Veeam Software, a leader in backup, recovery and data management solutions that deliver Modern Data Protection. The challenge is that the backend technology infrastructure usually can’t be built as quickly as the front end. He pointed out that all companies are now required to have initiatives in place to protect their customers’ data, irrespective of where it resides.
Like most organisations, learning institutions are also under pressure to create digital platforms. It takes time, energy and good leadership to successfully enable a digital transformation agenda, said Myles Thies, director of digital leaning services at Eiffel Corp, an EdTech partner specialising in modern learning solutions for African contexts. To be successful, organisations need to have a clear idea of what they want to achieve, the available budget to achieve this, the time frame in which they want to achieve this and who will be involved.
When it comes to digital transformation, collaboration is key to sparking and accelerating the innovation that needs to happen, said Wesley Lynch, CEO of Snapplify, an educational technology company working with thousands of institutions and partnered with other education players to provide technology that facilitates their business growth. Businesses have a big role to play in putting their heads together to solve real-world problems, he said, noting that digital transformation is closely tied to providing integrated solutions that are localised and accessible
To watch the full discussion, click here.
