Wazzup Pilipinas!
“Going digital” is a
trend among businesses right now since it boosts overall productivity in the
workplace and in the market. It means maximizing new and available technologies
and models in the areas of Social Media, Mobility, Data Analytics, Cloud, and
Security in order to make work and processes more efficient and effective.
Its apparent benefits
are more than enough reasons to start the digital transformation. Stressing the
importance of IT, TJ Rosal, the Assistant Vice President for Sales and Marketing of
CuroTeknika, a managed IT services company said, “In light of the
global digital shift, IT is in a position where it can make significant
business impact. It is time for IT to take on a more strategic role within the
organization by developing technology-driven tools, systems, and processes that
add value to the business. This is an opportune moment for IT to make a shift
from being a company’s mere maintenance hub to a major growth driver.”
Based on a study made
by management resources firm Brilliant, majority of companies surveyed have
no plans to increase their in-house IT staffing in 2017. However, as companies
grow, their IT infrastructure become more complex, placing IT in a dilemma of
keeping their current infrastructure up and running rather than focus on
strategic initiatives. “The time that should have been spent in researching,
evaluating and testing new technologies that add competitive advantage are spent
mostly on operational activities which of course are equally important.
Unfortunately, the culture of learning is pushed to the side and for the most
part, IT resources are hired primarily for maintenance,” said Rosal.
Interestingly enough,
there are some business owners who recognize the potential of a fully dedicated
IT department in a business. A study by the Computing Technology Industry
Association which surveyed 350 executives revealed that companies outsource IT
in order to improve efficiency and to free their IT staff to work on strategic
projects. Rosal explains, “Managed IT providers like CuroTeknika have the
infrastructure already in place. We have the skills, tools and processes
needed, and the required manpower spread geographically to support even
regional locations. Companies see us as a strategic partner because we function
as an extension of their in-house capabilities.”
“We’ve worked with
financial companies to handle their technical helpdesk to support their
end-users nationwide. This allowed them to realign their IT group’s focus
towards the integration of their disparate applications. They were able to
offload operational functions such as desktop support, recruitment,
re-training, work scheduling and service level adherence,” shared Rosal. “With
regards to large enterprises, some of them let us handle the technical support
of their provincial offices.”
Working under a “Business.Life.Simplified”
insight, CuroTeknika helps organizations focus on delivering consistent and
efficient customer experience while enabling a continuous and simplified
operations environment that can thrive in a global, customer-driven economy.
"Businesses
today need to be dynamic and agile. The IT of the future will be the enablers
in enhancing value creation for businesses, paving the way to compete not only
locally but globally. This is the time to explore new technologies and while
they are at it, CuroTeknika can support the day-to-day upkeep of their IT
infrastructure,” said Rosal.
Attention turns to
business trends and opportunities
There is no doubt that
technologies will continue to develop and evolve at an accelerated pace, thus
presenting more opportunities.
One of the hottest
trends is that many companies are starting to reap the benefits of data
analytics – especially with the proliferation of social media which is arguably
a source of more accurate feedback. Marketers are now able to predict customer preferences,
behavior and buying patterns by mining the data that they collect from consumer
profiles, interests, geo-locations and other useful information. More
successful implementations enable brands to make quick and relevant decisions
in marketing and customer experience.
Another trend is
heightened data security against cyber-attacks which increases year on year.
Information has become the new currency and as more devices get connected, the
chances of getting hit by a cyber-attack increase. Any organization should be
ready with its preventive and corrective security measures. This is why many of
the large enterprises have shifted their resources in establishing a Security
Operations Center that protect all data touchpoints including their
applications, databases, core systems, network, and up to the
end-points/devices.
The role of IT has
become more dynamic these days as trends demand a more careful deliberation in
light of companies’ unique business problems. As new systems are implemented,
new policies and procedures have to be put in place as well. It is therefore
imperative for IT to focus on these. “There’s been a lot of talk about IT
having 2 modes: One to run the business and another to change the business.
This is an exciting time for IT professionals because these trends allow IT to
enable their organization to redefine or enhance business models. Companies
have to deliberately reallocate internal skills to focus on changing the
business, rather than maintaining it,” said Rosal. “This is why there is value
in outsourcing the management of IT infrastructure.”
While keeping and
managing operations in-house has its benefits, it may lead to divided
priorities – a factor which can hamper business. More often than not, an
in-house IT department handles all aspects of technology despite having only
limited resources and capabilities. With the help of a managed IT service
provider like CuroTeknika, companies can stay on track or better yet ahead with
strategies and projects that add more value to the business.
Ross is known as the Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas - An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Professional by profession and a Social Media Evangelist by heart.
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