Undoubtedly, the Covid-19 pandemic is accelerating IT times in Latin America. The current situation boosted several technological trends and reoriented objectives and goals within companies. Emerging technologies such as Cloud, Automation and Remote Work or Artificial Intelligence and Data Analysis are part of the digital transformation and today are on the agenda of many companies.
The digital transformation process is based on four main pillars: Cloud, IoT (Internet of Things), Data Intelligence (Artificial Intelligence) and the transversal pillar which is Information Security, because this aspect implies a very interesting challenge in data integrity and security.
We are living a moment of important changes, mainly in the way of doing business. There will be definitive impacts for organizations that will imply, for example, rethinking and redefining the office space. We understand that there will be more remote work, smaller offices and although part of the social component could be lost, we will gain in objectivity and structure in production. The office, with all its value chain that lives around it, will be transformed. I believe that the corporate environment of travel, events, dinners, lunches or meetings at clients' homes, which involve physical displacement, will have to be rethought.
Some of the current paradigms will disappear, new ones will appear and we will have to build new impacts on those value chains that were structured based on the previous model, because some things will no longer make sense. For example, car manufacturers will have to think about what their role will be in a world where people will move less, the same will happen with travel companies.
Human talent management
The Home Office will reshape many aspects of organisations and we believe that many companies will continue to operate with as few staff as possible in their offices. It is estimated that there will be a reduction in office occupancy of 20-30%, which will have a strong impact on those corporate spaces.
Thanks to teleworking, people will be able to be more productive and at the same time enjoy more of their free time. Therefore, the challenge for companies is not to under exploit workers, while providing the necessary conditions to perform their work remotely. And here the key will be the proper management of human talent to the new landscape that is presented at the workplace.
More than 3,000 employees connected
When COVID-19 arrived in the region, Logicalis adopted home office work for its more than 3,000 employees in Latin America. The success of this move was only possible due to the business continuity plan that began about two years ago and covered all of the company's processes and technology.
One of the key points of the project was the implementation of SD-WAN, a networking technology that allows the prioritization and routing of connectivity for all Logicalis offices and data centers. With this technology, the network became intelligent to manage traffic based on the rules defined by the company and offer those who are working from home, the same experience as in the office.
In order for this to happen, it was necessary to have a robust infrastructure and very good corporate communication tools, which turned out to be fundamental for our employees to feel part of it and not lose the purpose of everything that happens in the company.
Time to take up the challenge
Latin American companies must take on the challenge of digitizing their businesses and invest in these transformation processes, since today it has become a necessity for which they must adapt quickly.
Companies that adapt to the new times will be stronger because they will understand what it means to play in this new reality. While those that do not take on the new challenges of today will disappear, it is a matter of time. This pandemic is a framing event that will point to the extinction of many companies, as the meteorite was for the dinosaurs.
#ArchitectsOfChange
* by Rodrigo Parreira, CEO of Logicalis Latin America
About Logicalis
Logicalis is an international provider of digital services solutions that seeks to accelerate the digital transformation of its 10,000 customers worldwide. Through a network of globally connected centers of expertise, leading industry experts (education, financial services, government, healthcare, manufacturing, professional services, retail and telecommunications) and strategic partners (such as Cisco, Microsoft, HPE, IBM, NetApp, Oracle, ServiceNow and VMware), Logicalis has more than 6,500 employees focused on understanding customer priorities and improving the customer experience. As Architects of ChangeTM, Logicalis' focus is to design, support and execute customers' digital transformation by marrying their vision with its technology expertise and industry knowledge. From its deep understanding of IT industry trends, such as Security, Cloud, Data Management and IoT, the company is able to address its clients' priorities, such as revenue and business growth, operational efficiency, innovation, risk and compliance, data management and sustainability. Logicalis Group has annual revenues of $1.7 billion, with operations in Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific and Africa. It is a division of Datatec Limited, listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, with revenues of over $4.3 billion.
For more information, visit https://www.logicalis.com/
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