COVID-19 has fast-tracked digital transformation in business and IT systems have never been more central than they are now. This is according to Dell Technologies which has this week announced the roll out of Project APEX, scheduled for the first half of 2021, to provide a unified web interface to help businesses manage all aspects of their cloud environment.

During the Dell Technologies Forum 2020, hosted virtually, the company’s executive leadership underlined the message that businesses have had to accelerate digital transformation as 4IR has arrived ahead of schedule.

According to the Dell Technologies 2020 Digital Transformation Index, 32% of organisations are concerned they may not survive the next few years, while 60% believe they will survive but will shed many more jobs and take years to return to profitability.

80% of businesses have fast-tracked at least some digital transformation programs this year, but just 41% have accelerated all or most of their programs.

79% are reinventing their business model as a result of the disruption caused by the pandemic, while 50% worry that they didn’t transition fast enough.

Research shows that the inability to extract valuable insights from data and/or information overload and 91% of businesses agree that extracting valuable insights from data will be more important for their businesses than ever before.

Dell Technologies adds that there is a demand for a simpler IT experience from the market.

Aongus Hegarty, President, International Markets at Dell Technologies said technology will play an even more important role in helping orgs to rebuild and recover.

“This points to the need to make IT even easier to deploy, manage and use. IT operations are just too complex, organisations are using numerous management tools that don’t talk to each other. This leads to the slow roll out of technology which cannot scale to meet customer’s needs. By buying more technology only adds time and delays, and new investments in infrastructure require large upfront capital costs at a time when orgs need to preserve cash and protect liquidity.”

To achieve an order of magnitude and a simpler experience, customers expect to be able to have a consistent on-prem and off-prem operating experience said Hegarty.

To address these issues, Dell Technologies has switched to what it calls ‘Everything-as-a-Service’ model.

“This offers customers consistency, choice and simplicity. In fact IDC is predicting that by 2024 over 75% of infrastructure at the edge locations will be consumed as a service, as will more than half of datacentre infrastructure. That’s why we are committed to delivering a cloud-like as-a-service experience across the full Dell Technologies portfolio. Project APEX is our new strategy to deliver a much simpler as-a-service and cloud experience to our customers and partners around the world,” said Hegarty.

Doug Woolley, Managing Director, Dell Technologies South Africa, said: “More than just a theme for this year’s event, working together and being agile has become a formula for success in 2020 for me and so many others in the Tech Industry. How do we mobilise ourselves, our partners and our customers to rapidly respond to change, unforeseen change, and, in the face of it all, unprecedented opportunity? We are seeing the acceleration and arrival of the 4th Industrial Revolution and technology is at the coal face of it all. But how do organisations take a hold of their future with both hands?”

“The answer is by collaboration with the right partners, colleagues and role models. Looking forward, it is clear that organisations need to transform digitally in order to survive and, more importantly, thrive."