The core value of digital transformation lies in balancing IT efficiency and cost optimisation with business competitiveness, and the key to successful transformation is the convergence of OT and IT.

This is according to Alex Du, managing director, Huawei Enterprise South Africa, who presented at the Huawei Eco Connect South Africa 2019 event in Johannesburg.

Du said the company has invested 10% of its global revenue (US$14.6-billion) into R&D, which is reflected in its continued interests in the 5G market, among other influential areas of digital technology application.

He added that the company is one year ahead of competitors within the 5G market and, whilst unveiling what he described as the world's first foldable 5G-enabled smartphone, said that the company has signed 39 commercial deals, with investment in 50 000 5G sites undergoing deployment.

Du said the company anticipates 15 – 20% growth in 2019 and has rolled out new technology, including All Flash, Wi-Fi 6 and potentially lucrative deals with automotive companies for intelligent vehicles.

"Emergence of the third platform and innovation accelerator is reshaping the ICT industry and enabling digital transformation," Du said.

Du also emphasised the contribution of the company's full stack AI and open digital platform that will continue to streamline the application of IOT, cloud, big data and AI, and digital transformation.

DX is now considered a top priority among business executives and gaining momentum. According to Gartner, 42% of CEOs say 'digital first' or 'digital to the core', while 61% plan to increase IT investment in 2019.

Ranjit Rajan, Research Associate VP, IDC Middle East, Africa and Turkey Region, said organisations generally tend to underestimate pace of digital transformation and the global economy is transforming a lot quicker than most realise.

"We estimate that sixty percent of the global GDP will be digitised by 2022, and this will encourage an increase in IT spend supporting digital transformation. We believe in the years 2018 to 2022 US$7.5-trillion of IT spend will be centred on digital transformation initiatives," said Rajan.

He described cloud as the resource which provides agility and scale for digital transformation, and by 2022 40% of all IT spend will be centred on the cloud. This will increase to 80% by 2028.