TALKING business

It ’ s fair to say 2020 has challenged us all like no other year in recent memory . COVID-19 has caused organisations to urgently examine their long-term strategies with a view to ultimately survive these turbulent times .

Some industries have been hit worse than others , and many are still facing difficult decisions about the road ahead .

One thing is clear though – organisations across the world are looking to digitalisation more than ever and this region is no different .

Those that had earmarked Digital Transformation as a strategic objective in the future have now shifted their priorities to make this an imperative . And in an uncertain world , where face-to-face contact seems a little like a distant memory , this reliance on digital tools is only likely to increase .

Enterprises now seek agility and scalability to enable them to quickly respond to customer demands and adapt to a changing technology landscape . Ultimately , this will require enterprises to invest in digital tools and instil a ‘ digital ’ culture .

How important is infrastructure in enabling organisations to digitally transform ?

At the core of any successful Digital Transformation is a re-examination of an organisation ’ s infrastructure . This is a crucial element which companies use to build and deploy applications used by their customer base , workforce and supply chain .

Modern organisations need to ensure their infrastructure is able to support the likes of Big Data , AI , mobile and Edge Computing , while keeping constant agility at front of mind . This means big decisions on infrastructure models .

What is ‘ Everything-as-a-Service ’?

According to IDC , by 2020 , consumptionbased IT procurement in data centres will have eclipsed traditional procurement through improved ‘ as-a-Service ’ models ,

Mohammad Al-Jallad , Chief Technology Officer and Director , Middle East and Africa at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

accounting for as much as 40 % of enterprises ’ IT infrastructure spending .

Responding to the need for agile operations , enterprises are increasingly looking for infrastructure models that better align their IT infrastructure spending with IT consumption .

It means we ’ re seeing a shift from CAPEX to OPEX for infrastructure spending , taking the pressure off IT leaders who have historically had to intensively strategically

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