Print.IT Reseller - issue 83

01732 759725 RESEARCH 20 One year since the onset of the pandemic, organisations globally have undergone major transformations as they seek to strengthen resilience, increase agility and deliver greater efficiencies. NTT’s 2021 Global Managed Services Report highlights a new breed of organisation – the bold and brave – who view the pandemic as a chance to take advantage of market opportunities and to scale Bold, brave and resilient per cent of IT teams. Damian Skendrovic, Executive Vice President at NTT said: “The unprecedented challenges that COVID-19 has impressed upon businesses has forced the issue of business and IT alignment into the limelight. And there is still work to do to ensure core organisational priorities are understood by all. IT is under an immense amount of pressure to deliver against present requirements, while concurrently planning for future delivery and innovation. With technology and agility front and centre of the business conversation, alignment of priorities is no longer optional, it is critical for the sustainability and resilience of the business.” Strengthen resilience As global organisations seek to strengthen resilience, the research highlights significant differences in approach. While some consider cost optimisation as a way of creating greater resilience, others are focused on being bold and brave. They view the pandemic as a chance to take advantage of market opportunities and to scale, with over one-third pivoting technology focus to achieve this. Interestingly, this figure rises to 41 per cent if an organisation currently has at least three-quarters of their IT managed by third-parties. While if an organisation has little to none of their IT managed by a third-party, the percentage drops significantly to around one quarter prepared to pivot focus. “While not all organisations view disruption as an opportunity, one-third have adjusted course because they see a chance to do things better and take advantage; particularly in relation to enabling a more distributed workforce and innovative technologies,” Skendrovic added. “Bold and brave businesses are approaching resilience in a new and innovative light; and trusted technology partners are helping them achieve this.” The future of business success The research also highlights how embracing emerging technologies and the ability to automate and deploy innovation at speed as key strategies underpinning the future of business success. And while 91 per cent of business and IT leaders agree emerging technology is crucial for their technology strategy, only two-fifths believe they have the technology available to meet the organisation’s immediate objectives. This brings to light the conundrum faced by many global organisations. The need to balance present needs, while also investing in technology and process modernisation to capture opportunities to scale and evolve – in short, to be bold and brave. “Rapid change has been forced onto IT teams. And while business stakeholders expect to exercise a degree of agility in execution – IT is saddled with managing their own challenges. From managing vendor complexity, which further extends to integrating disparate systems, along with emerging technologies and legacy infrastructure; through to budget constraints and a lack of skills to keep pace with business demands,” Skendrovic said. Speed to market As speed to market becomes a primary competitive differentiator, optimising digital transformation efforts is critical. Organisations who showcase the characteristics of being bold and brave are 50 per cent more likely to optimise their digital transformation efforts and partner with managed services providers for over half of their IT support. Reducing the mounting infrastructure administration pressure on IT teams by embracing a DevOps culture and platform automation, allows IT to optimise transformation efforts by focusing on innovation, and ultimately results in better Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) and cost-optimisation, as well as the delivery of continuous improvement across the business. “While change isn’t always perceived as positive in the moment, it is important to remember that transformation presents new opportunities for agility, scale, and innovation,” Skendrovic concluded. www.hello.global.ntt 89 per cent of business and IT leaders agree COVID-19 has caused significant changes to their operating processes, while 87 per cent say it has accelerated their digital transformation strategy. Changes to operating processes, along with digital transformation acceleration have presented organisations with an opportunity to reimagine their technology strategies and how it aligns to the business. 92 per cent of technology teams agree their overall technology strategy is aligned, either fully (49 per cent) or partially (42 per cent) to the organisation’s business strategy needs. This highlights how IT teams have become more responsive to organisational demands. Similarly, it has pushed business stakeholders to fast-track services and solutions already held by IT, such as enabling a distributed workforce, to a far wider audience. However, despite greater strategy alignment, some disconnect in priorities exists between the business and IT. Almost 70 per cent of operations teams believe the need for a technology strategy that drives business efficiency opportunities is crucial, yet only 48 per cent of IT teams agree. Further, 69 per cent of operations teams consider speed and agility a key component of technology strategy, in contrast to only 53 Damian Skendrovic INSIGHTS DRIVEN BY DATA 2021 Global Managed Services Report Helping you thrive through change Bold, brave and resilient Organizations have and will continue to broaden their investments in digital transformation. Some have taken a different approach; to achieve resilience through bravery, boldness and ambition . Business resilience is built through calculated risk-taking. Investment in and deploying innovative technologies to support new processes, products and services that exceed their customers’ and employees’ expectations.