Tech at work today: what's on organisations' priority list?
In the post-pandemic months, what's the state of digitalisation and how are organisations reviewing their implementation of technology? People Matters hears from industry leaders on what the priorities are and what to look out for next
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STORY
By Mint Kang
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igitalisation has made work simultaneously easier and more difficult – easier in that it consistently reduces manual processes and frees people up for more valueadded work, more difficult in that it requires an entire, separate set of investments and skills to implement and maintain. And the last two years of pandemic-driven digital acceleration only emphasised these diametrically opposite impacts on how organisations operate. In today's economic landscape, digitalisation is taken for granted. There is no way to effectively compete other| June 2022
wise. But now that the crisis has subsided, the way organisations digitalise is changing. It's no longer about niceto-haves or keeping up with the Joneses. Companies in the business of providing tech services say that the current uncertainty has led to a much more strategic approach: some scaling back, some consolidation, emphasis on certain wellchosen priorities. “What we are observing is not a total return to business-as-usual for our customers across the board,” said Sandeep Bhargava, Managing Director APJ for cloud solutions
provider Rackspace Technology. “Fears of recessions, personnel crunches, inflation, and supply chain issues, are just some of the factors that contribute to an unpredictable economic outlook.” A common theme now seems to be that tech implementation has moved into a review and optimisation phase, with business and IT leaders now much more cognisant of what meets their specific needs. Unsurprisingly, many companies have one eye trained on the bottom line. Lindsay Brown, Vice President and General Manager for Asia Pacific and Japan at collaboration software firm GoTo, told People Matters: “At a time when analysts, economists, and inves“What we are observing is not a total return to business-as-usual for our customers across the board” Sandeep Bhargava, Managing Director APJ for cloud solutions provider Rackspace Technology
