Pandemic speeds up SA digital transformation
by MTHULISI SIBANDA
JOHANNESBURG – THE global coronavirus (COVID-19) is accelerating digital transformation in South Africa, according to the latest study by Dell Technologies.
According to the study, 79 percent of organisations in South Africa have fast-tracked some digital transformation programme this year.
This is on par with the 80 percent reported globally.
Organisations in South Africa are more likely to have completed their most recent round of investment in Edge and artificial intelligence (AI) as well as on-demand digital services and the digital workplace when compared to global investments.
These findings are carried in Dell’s Digital Transformation Index 2020, after a study undertaken in November and December 2020.
In one of the first local studies to measure business behaviour amid the pandemic, the study found that 79 percent of South African organisations have fast-tracked some digital transformation programs this year.
A further 84 percent are in the process of re-inventing their business model, which is 5 percent more than the global average of 79 percent.
When comparing the South African results from 2018 till 2020, Digital Leaders (the most digitally mature organisations) have remained the same, at 8 percent.
Digital Adopters (the second most digitally mature group) have grown considerably from 23 percent in 2018 to 49 percent in 2020 – a 20-percentage point increase.
The Digital Evaluators (the third most digitally mature group, characterised by gradual digital transformation and planning) have seen a four percent drop between 2018 and 2020.
The South African study also records a modest drop (3 percent) in the number of Digital Laggards (the least digitally mature group) since 2018 and a fall in the second to last group, Digital Followers, by 13-percentage points.
Doug Woolley, Dell Technologies South Africa Managing Director, said the study was particularly pertinent as it clearly showed that organisations across the country, had already begun to roll-out significant digitalisation initiatives to drive business transformation.
“These initiatives will start to take shape in 2021,” he said.
– CAJ News
