End of Year Musing 2020!

What a year! We all have our personal stories, highlights, our ups and downs and how we coped during this pandemic. Travel became a distant memory, we Zoomed, WebEx’d and Teamed online. We adapted to the new norm, we worked longer hours despite being in lockdown! Mental health gained center stage, In-equality in our society raised its ugly head.

We saw heroes emerge in every part of society, whether it was Sir Tom Moore or the NHS staff and Carers who worked under incredible circumstances by putting their lives at risk to save another or the neighbour who made sure you had someone to talk to in these trying times.

You are all my heroes.

The word, ‘we are in this together’ has resonated with me more than at anytime before and with the second wave, a more contagious virus and cancelling of Christmas has put even more strain on us. So if you do need someone to talk to I’m only a DM away!

What impact did the pandemic have on our customers & partners?

We saw several things happen. Customers batten down to weather the storm and started to review any future strategy which could be re-prioritized. Focus turned to re-inventing to become efficient, customers started transitioning faster to the Cloud as a means to becoming more agile, bringing more flexibility in operational management and reducing up front cost and lower TCO by shifting to an OpEx model.

System Integrator's, like IBM, accelerated its move to Hybrid Cloud and AI by sharping its own focus to a Cloud First strategy by splitting off NewCo and at the same time acquiring TruQua, Instana, Expertus and NordCloud. In 2020 alone, over 100 IT Services related acquisitions have taken place. We also saw SAP bring forward its own Cloud first strategy and go all in on its Business Technology Platform on Hyperscalers, shifting to Industry Cloud and giving customers more options to shift flexibly to the Cloud. These were seismic shifts in key strategic imperatives in delivering digital transformation which will continue to unfold in the coming year.

What should we expect in 2021?

For those of you who know me I’m an eternal optimist and there is a silver lining in every cloud, literally! With multiple new vaccines being rolled out which will see a gradual shift to pre-2020 ways of working. Travel will take more time to get back on its feet, but it will see its green shoots emerging. Investment in key strategic imperatives will gather pace for the reasons I outlined above.

However, from a digital transformation perspective, I expect the C-suite will focus more on the 'So what'. The expectation, rightly so, will be to demonstrate how effectively an Enterprise Platform can help with achieving value-driven business focus underpinned by an agile, flexible, consumable and innovative Technology Platform.

All of this must be underlined by a Digital Transformation in the Cloud and at its core it must deliver:

-       Business Transformation rather than more of the same

-       Focus on Value Add that Cloud brings e.g. opening up the technology platform to Intelligent Workflows, accelerated move to both Enterprise Platform and Cloud

-       To Innovate at the speed of Innovation i.e. the Enterprise Platform must deliver new innovations without additional cost and with minimal impact

-       More options when adapting and adopting to the cloud when shifting core business processes e.g. Hybrid Migration in less time to preserve the investment.

-       A consumption based offering which compliments Software Application flexibility in delivering a complete solution.

-       Greater emphasis on cost efficiencies i.e. lower TCO and shifting the cost model

In the new year, I hope to bring more clarity on how we can help deliver the digital transformation in the Cloud with a renewed focus on value driven transformation that delivers an Enterprise Platform and much more.

Stay Safe, Season’s Greetings and a Happy New Year!