EDITOR’S COMMENT
Racing back after the
business pit stop
I
s there an opportunity for Government
and private organisations to use the
slow economic climate as a time to reevaluate their IT infrastructure?
In motor racing, a pit-stop is an
opportunity to pause from one’s
position, make tweaks that will enhance
performance, and get back into the race
better set for success. This strategic pause is
an equal part of winning, enabling the racer
to come back stronger and competitive, and
prepared to face the real challenges that
have been identified.
And why is that important in the business
world? Because sometimes global economic
conditions allow businesses to get into the
pit-stop, spending time and effort on getting
the operations back in fighting shape.
Economic downturns are seen as business
opportunities to trim the fat in a number
of ways, and while many of these are
approached with the intention of boosting
the bottom-line, it is also an opportunity to
move operations and processes onto more
advanced systems.
Common thinking is that a downturn
is not really a time to be initiating new
expenses, but this can be easily challenged
with the right question: Would you rather
use an opportunity to equip yourself for
future challenges or hide under a rock
waiting for the storm to pass?
The conscious decision by the GCC
leadership to move the economy from
reliance on the hydrocarbon sector brings
other industry sectors into the spotlight. A
Government diversifying its dependence
signals opportunity for diverse sectors, and
shows that the economic environment is
one in which there is a premium placed on
performance and contribution.
Governments in the GCC have already
strengthened their focus on sectors such as
healthcare, education, construction, and
others. This focus has two goals: increasing
private sector contribution to economic
growth, and streamlining of costs through
digital transformation.
If your business is one that sees the future
as ripe with opportunity, then your digital
transformation process can be kicked-off
right now. Before you run to your CFO to
unlock that big budget, the good news is
that your conversations can actually begin
with the happiness of the end user in mind,
to ensure that the new digital infrastructure
and applications address current and future
issues that the people face on a daily basis.
For a government department, this could
be the seamless offering of online and
mobile-based services so that there is added
convenience in the engagement, and for
businesses, it could be creating solutions
for teams to collaborate better or even to
engage with their customers using a number
of multimedia technology solutions.
Any discussion around this would also
involve financials and this is where the
beauty of subscriptions come in. Why
put down a huge lump-sum as capital
expenditure, when you can opt for digital
transformation-as-a-service, in an operating
expenses model?
A transformational IT architecture no
longer calls for a rip-and-replace of every
single system every time you want to add
video calling capabilities, for example. With
the enterprise networking moving towards a
consumerised model, where even enterprise
apps can be run to quickly activate services
and capabilities, there are no longer any
limits to what an innovative organisation
Mohammed Areff is Avaya Vice President for
MEA region
If your business is one
that sees the future as
ripe with opportunity,
then your digital
transformation process
can be kicked-off
can provide and achieve.
We all know that tough times do not
last, tough organisations do. It is only a
matter of time before the strong strategies
and steps implemented by the visionary
leadership in the GCC begin to result in a
positive economic revival. Governments
and businesses in the region will emerge
from the pit-stop and drive into position as
innovative regional leaders once again.
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