While digital transformations have accelerated, there has been increased pressure on vendors to fulfill customer requirements in very short timeframes.
The IT industry was in fact one of the few sectors that has witnessed extreme positive impact this year. Technology companies were in high demand to digitise operations across sectors and respond in real time to get businesses up to speed to meet the new norms of working, specifically remote working in addition to several other immediate requirements. This pressure has exerted immense load on technology providers and system integrators to act fast to fulfill this rapid need.
The seemingly high rate of technological adoption and growth proves that technology exhibits resilience during tough times. Organisations that have successfully responded to the crisis have deployed more advanced technologies, digital products, and tech talent to speed up innovation. This momentum will continue at least for the next five years given that globally operations are being compelled to shift to digital and virtual working models.
For many companies, Covid-19 was the trigger to jumpstart and accelerate digital transformation. While several companies already had an ongoing transformation journey even before the pandemic, many were not equipped to swim through the pandemic tide.
The pandemic forced companies to invest in a faster transformation and today in just a few months, the crisis has brought about years of change in the way companies now do business – this is already a major achievement.
Acceptability has been a major plus for us. A noticeable change in the culture has been witnessed; businesses are more adaptive and agile which was a challenge before, thus making it more crisis resilient. An overarching digital strategy became more prominent for mid to large organisations and far less employee pushback versus earlier.
In terms of solutions, AI has received a lot of attention in addition to digital assistants which became the only solution when face to face interactions were suspended. ADS systems peaked too, automating repetitive management problems as the world entered the pandemic.
While digital transformations have accelerated, there has been increased pressure on vendors to fulfill immediate and longer-term customer requirements in very short timeframes. Having qualified resources and managing deliveries was the main challenge that constantly arose in the rising demand.
Remote and freelance resources were an additional challenge in terms of managing deliverables. Furthermore, security and access to client sites was a major hurdle witnessed in project implementation as several companies changed working models to online in very short spans of time.
API and RPA saw a phenomenal surge in fulfilling automation and integration requirements in line with customers’ business objectives. Overall automation has taken off, but with special requirements to integrate downstream through the ESB and upstream which mandated accurate implementation of API. Machine learning and AI technologies are also seen aggressively adopted by businesses to enhance understanding on spotting new areas of process improvement.
In today’s fast paced always connected ecosystem, companies are forced to place emphasis on digital transformation. In 2019, TSME embedded a strategy for being ready to fulfill market needs by having accurate synergies between the selected tools and implementation resources, which has proven vital for success this year.
This crisis readiness is a key takeout for all businesses this year. The capacity development has led TSME to sustain as one of the sought-after technology partners in the market.
