The digital future has arrived

Mohammed Amin, Senior Vice President MERAT, Dell Technologies

One of the many things that the pandemic taught us is that technology is key to driving business continuity, so technology will play a key role in paving the way to economic recovery. Organisations across every sector, embraced digital transformation at a faster pace than ever before. From enabling remote work, to enhancing infrastructure and security strategies, there was an increased demand for efficient, agile, and secure solutions.

The Digital Transformation Index Study, by Dell Technologies, shows that 80% of businesses globally accelerated their digital transformation plans, with 79% reinventing their business model because of disruption caused by the pandemic.

In the region, the study showed that 90% of organisations in UAE and Saudi Arabia, fast-tracked their digital transformation programs in 2020. This is compared to the global benchmark of 80%, suggesting that regional organisations here have shifted their digital transformation programs into high gear.

The study showed that 90% of organisations in UAE and Saudi Arabia, fast-tracked their digital transformation programs in 2020.

“Over the last 18-24 months, customers looked to Dell Technologies for our end-to-end product lines that are helping businesses transform their IT strategies and infrastructure. From creating remote workforces with our leading line up of laptops and monitors to virtualised infrastructure, to protecting critical data and applications, we have best-of-breed products that can cater to anything our customers need,” says Mohammed Amin, Senior Vice President MERAT, Dell Technologies.

Dell Technologies also expanded as-a-service capabilities, offering flexible payment options.

The line-up of branded product lines extends across storage, servers, data protection and networking portfolio. Dell Technologies also expanded as-a-service capabilities, offering flexible payment options so that organisations have greater access to technology across infrastructure stack including compute, storage, networking, virtualisation, and data protection.

Dell Technologies has focused on three key areas based on partner feedback.

Skills and services

In a time of continued uncertainty, the programme structure and engagement with partners remains consistent. The purpose at Dell Technologies is to create technology that drives human progress. This purpose was at the forefront when Dell Technologies designed the new partner programme.

“Our focus was to accelerate innovation, leverage our corporate culture and strength, and provide a world-class experience so our partners can drive even more impact for customers and communities in a highly competitive market. This vision is reflected in our new Partner Promise: Together, We Stop at Nothing,” explains Amin.

Dell Technologies is staying the course to support partners, while investing in key focus areas to drive our joint success. This is achieved by understanding the ins and outs of channel partners and customers business, by improving programs based on their feedback, by investing in the technology solutions of the future and by enabling channel partners to be qualified and prepared for the future.

This year, Dell Technologies has focused on three key areas based on partner feedback: an increased opportunity for new customer and line of business acquisition, accelerated growth and profit potential with access to our holistic portfolio, including VMware, and lastly a more streamlined end-to-end experience.

As part of the efforts to strengthen the channel network, channel partners are encouraged to review the appropriate Partner Programme Guide based on their business needs and capabilities.

Together with partners, Dell Technologies is empowering customers to meet the fast pace of change from the edge to the data centre, through distributed work and modern consumption, with cybersecurity, 5G infrastructure, digital experiences, and data management.

One of the big shifts is the demand for Edge technologies

Dell Technologies will also continue to equip the channel ecosystem to enhance their skills sets and to drive simplification of our portfolio where appropriate with a commitment to bringing the next generation of technologies to market.

Transformation journey

As the region upgrades to smart and digital infrastructures, it will prompt new models of business and services and act as a driver of economic momentum. This digital evolution will open broad spaces for new services as well as consumption in a variety of industries, elevating organisations and helping them become more resilient in the face of transformation.

Dell Technologies provides comprehensive hardware and software solutions, including platforms that are ready for the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning. From Dell Precision workstations to Dell EMC PowerEdge Servers, to Dell EMC PowerScale Storage and more, state-of-the-art technologies, enable every organisation to have access to the transformative power of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, DL and more.

At the start of the pandemic, many organisations were not sufficiently prepared with the right digital infrastructure. Many had to undergo legacy IT migrations, which was a crucial turning point in helping organisations meet customer and employee needs.

At the start of the pandemic, many organisations were not sufficiently prepared with the right digital infrastructure.

At the start of the pandemic, Dell Technologies saw companies quickly transform to enable their staff to work from home so that business could continue. Optimising their infrastructure with reliable and secure access to applications and data – whether running on-premises, in the cloud or both – is necessary to support users who are working and learning remotely.

The demand for cloud also grew in the wake of the pandemic, and there is a lasting impact on how organisations view cloud and the way it is deployed. With the increased adoption of cloud, organisations also had to make sure they were wary of misconfiguration, unauthorised access, and migration issues by having set cloud security strategies in place.

The demand for cloud also grew in the wake of the pandemic, and there is a lasting impact on how organisations view cloud

In addition, fighting off large scale data breaches proved critical, and organisations looked for cyber resilience capabilities to protect their data.

Dell Technologies’ broad portfolio of end-to-end business solutions have supported customers through the pandemic and delivered differentiated results. The company is working with several organisations across multiple sectors, to move them from their legacy infrastructure to a digital infrastructure that deploys and supports emerging technologies.

These investments are being made for the long run as organisations are seeing the value emerging technology provides to streamline their operations, as well as allows for innovation for their go-to-market strategy.

Technology is a key path to economic recovery as IT and data are the catalysts for growth. “Supporting our customers with the right technology to achieve business recovery and continuity has always been our key priority,” says Amin.

Many had to undergo legacy IT migrations, which was a crucial turning point in helping organisations meet customer and employee needs.

Businesses are now looking to reinforce resilience after a year in which the hybrid cloud has asserted itself as an absolute necessity. Taking stock of cloud management efficiencies will form a vital next step. Businesses will also need to harness technologies such as 5G, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Edge and IoT, data analytics, security, and workforce transformation solutions to drive success.

There is no doubt that digital businesses have the agility and flexibility to pivot, come what may. But the truth is this is only the dawn of the digital era. Dell Technologies is setting the foundations for a faster, more complex, and distributed data environment.

Looking ahead, channel partners, have a key role to help businesses understand the benefits of these solutions, based on a deep understanding of their business needs.

Big shift

One of the big shifts is the demand for Edge technologies. The pandemic’s impact on how things work and the ways in which public and private organisations have had to adapt, has accelerated the need for digital transformation.

The need for high performance, low latency and network connectivity has never been greater and will only increase. By 2024, IDC estimates there will be an 800% growth in the number of applications being launched at the edge. Edge plays a key role in this digital transformation journey, providing network and technology optimisation.

The full potential of 5G speeds can only be realised if network latency is reduced by processing data close to the end user. In addition, by improving the performance of applications and facilitating huge amounts of data to be processed in real-time, edge enables other next generation technologies such as IoT, Artificial Intelligence and wearables.

Then there is the focus on multi-cloud solutions. Investments in cloud operating models that span public, private and edge environments will continue to grow, enabling rapid scale and management of IT everywhere, with the security and visibility organisations need to keep their data protected.

With the increased adoption of cloud, organisations had to make sure they were wary of misconfiguration, unauthorised access, and migration issues.

Finally, as-a-service solutions promise the ultimate simplification and agility that will set businesses up to succeed and advance their digital transformation roadmaps. Breaking down data complexities will be critical and cloud, storage and flexible IT infrastructure as-as-service solutions will prove to be a balm for customers’ data management needs.

In this region specifically, the digital future is already here. With Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, IoT and other new interfaces rapidly changing how organisations operate, it is imperative that they understand how to respond and keep pace with disruptive technologies.

Globally, Dell Technologies had a very strong Q2 and first half of the year, driven by our ability to execute and deliver consistent performance amongst unprecedented demand for our solutions.

Sustainability and recovery

The primary focus in the coming months will be to help regional organisations accelerate digital transformation initiatives with speed and purpose as Dell Technologies works together to power local and national innovation agendas. Given the reach of digital technology and the change it promises, there is a need to shepherd these exciting technologies without diminishing its potential.

As one of the largest global technology providers, Dell Technologies also has a unique role to play in transforming the future for better. Another key priority is the Progress Made Real 2030 Social Impact Vision, which is designed to enhance Dell Technologies’ purpose to use technology to drive human progress.

The goals are centred around four focus areas: advancing sustainability, cultivating inclusion, transforming lives, and upholding ethics and data privacy. For each pillar, there is a moonshot goal that is aspirational and across MERAT, Dell Technologies has various programs in place – from providing technology access to underserved communities to youth skills training and sustainability initiatives.

“I am optimistic and excited about what the future holds, especially as technology plays a fundamental role in strengthening the regional economy. Digitisation will accelerate the transformation of key sectors and help boost recovery, as well as allow for innovation to once again be central to the regional growth agenda. In short, this time we will see technology have a stronger impact on the world with the changes driven by a stronger sense of purpose, to enable wider socio-economic growth,” reflects Amin.

Mohammed Amin, Senior Vice President MERAT, Dell Technologies
Mohammed Amin, Senior Vice President MERAT, Dell Technologies.

With AI, ML, IoT, rapidly changing how organisations operate, it is imperative they understand how to respond and keep pace with disruption.