The year 2020 was unprecedented for all industries, including IT. Organizations had to adapt, rescale and restructure their technology, literally overnight, in order to stay afloat amidst the uncertainty.
Philippine organizations realize they can no longer delay the shift to a hybrid or remote workforce as 84% of local organizations have increased their technology budget in 2020 compared to the previous year. Likewise, 80% of organizations globally have fast-tracked some digital transformation programs last year, according to the latest Dell Technologies Digital Transformation Index survey.
“We’ve seen a lot of innovations in this past decade, yet 2020 accelerated it at an unprecedented speed. Organizations need to take advantage of these trends and increase adoption of technologies to adapt and shape our digital future,” said Ronnie Latinazo, Country General Manager, Dell Technologies, Philippines.
Solutions provider AMTI can attest to the compelling need for a digital shift. Before the lockdown, the company has already invested in technology that enabled a more mobile, flexible and secure workforce. Collaborating and learning from Dell Technologies’ 10+ years’ experience implementing Connected Workplace program, AMTI’s transition reaped enormous benefits, resulting in increased productivity and revenue streams, and maintained business-as-usual operations even at the onset of quarantine. Over the years, it is clear that embracing digital transformation can mitigate the adverse effects of disruption. And for many more organizations, it will be the same as we welcome another year of technology in business.
In 2021, Dell Technologies see that one of organizations’ top IT priorities will be centered on supporting remote working and learning with automation and improving IT infrastructure to make business operations more resilient and agile. For business, this includes finding business internet solutions that work.
Technology enables a new age of human transformation
Over 40% of the Philippines’ workforce is working from home, but, despite the social distancing, technology will and is enabling a greater sense of connectivity. Virtual meetings have given us a glimpse into the everyday lives of our colleagues and create greater flexibility for life-work balance.
Technology will also foster new relationships– AI and automation will reimagine the division of labor between humans and machines. We’ll offload more analytics tasks to AI to allow faster, deeper and more meaningful insights that enable us to shift our focus to greater innovation, purposeful work and human connection.
“Rather than just mechanical tasks, AI will take on analytics tasks. Trust in AI will increase as organizations and people understand its value in driving meaningful, data-driven insights.” Latinazo said.
The year 2021 will also begin to shape a society that is more trustworthy, empathetic, patient and flexible. This will show up in our work – which will be an outcome, not a place – and in our lives – how we receive healthcare, educate our students, care for loved ones, make an impact on the world and realize our own senses of purpose. Security and trust in our devices, networks and data will become increasingly interwoven components of the technology experience so people can connect and innovate with confidence.
Hybrid cloud for the hybrid workforce
Investments in cloud operating models that span public, private and edge environments will continue to grow. Philippine organizations are looking into investing in cloud services and cloud management platform in the next two years, and we will see more of this in the near future as they drive their operational agility. Data exists and organizations will require security and visibility to keep their data, teams and their businesses protected.
Organizations will increasingly expect to consume IT much in the way they’ve consumed public cloud services – orderable and scalable with a few clicks, providing more options and less complexity. Acquiring IT anywhere as-a-Service means simpler and faster IT choices for organizations to meet the IT demands of their digital present and future.
Edge opportunity comes into focus
Hybrid work and learning, combined with data-powered smart applications across industries like healthcare and finance, is driving an increase in highly distributed workloads.
Fueled by 5G, data will need to be managed and analyzed in real-time at the edge. As a result, we’ll see even more IT investments in distributed technology infrastructure – but it has to be simpler and faster to deploy. This shift creates momentum for hybrid cloud operating models that extend out to the edge beyond the traditional data center.
Edge creates urgency for Telcos to accelerate 5G
Mobile network operators will invest in modern IT that “cloudifies” their network architecture – bringing us closer to widespread connectivity and edge processing made possible by 5G. While we have yet to see its full implementation, 5G is set to offer advanced features. These will be instrumental in accelerating enterprise use cases, creating smarter ecosystems for different sectors such as cities, healthcare and logistics.
This shift has already begun in the Philippines, being among the early adopters due to the rising demand for faster internet speeds. We will become increasingly dependent on modern connectivity to bridge the clouds and edges to people and devices powered by the next generation 5G wireless communications technology.
The government has already expressed its commitment in improving internet speeds through the 2021 National Broadband Plan. Meanwhile, key telecommunication players are racing to expand their 5G rollout nationwide to advance quality education healthcare and local / small business, healthcare and local / small business, and we can expect this to come to fruition in the future.
Scaling up security takes front and center
With remote working and emergence of e-commerce and service applications, organizations will be dealing with larger volumes of data than ever before. In the Philippines, attacks have become more rampant in the first half of 2020 alone, breaching various sectors and industries spanning from government agencies to financial institutions.
The growing sophistication of cyberthreats will urge companies to invest in a more robust security infrastructure. To thrive in the digital economy, companies have to be confident their data is protected and secure at every step. An intrinsic security approach, from the onset, is imperative. Security systems for data protection will have more intelligent capabilities such as monitoring, tracing and mitigating looming attacks while storage solutions will intensify its protective features for encrypting, backing-up and recovering data.
Intelligent PCs adapt to hybrid work and learning, hyperconnected users
As new hybrid work and learning dynamics evolve, technology is enabling people to adapt. We’ll see AI, cloud and improved connectivity merge to improve user experiences with devices. AI will make PCs more seamless, customized and hassle free. Intelligent software will help devices understand when you do and do not want to be seen in a video conference.
Devices will be able to default to 5G when wi-fi is low. And new apps and services will continue to launch that make whiteboarding and collaboration easier and more organic, and the systems we’re using will also start to see upgrades in functionality.
Despite the unprecedented challenges that emerged last year, what was emphasized in 2020 was the increasing value of technology that can enable organizations and individuals to power through in their every life.
“It’s important that we remain optimistic as we navigate forward and view technology as a force for good. Intensifying our technology adoption will be key in business resiliency. Strategically advancing their digital journeys will help Philippine organizations across different industries see brighter prospects, and will remain resilient amidst the ever-changing world,” closed Latinazo.
