In the latest Dell Technologies Work from Anywhere Tech Talk Series, Dell thought leaders share insights into the latest technology trends. The series takes viewers through an informative journey looking at how organisations can take advantage of market conditions to survive and thrive.

Join Jonathan Ryall, client solutions field product manager at Dell Technologies South Africa, for the second episode of the series as he delves into the topic of the “the intelligent PC” with Chris Buchanan, client solutions director, Dell Technologies South Africa. The pair discuss digital transformation, intelligent PCs, endpoint security and how Dell is ensuring it produces sustainable packaging, printing and products. Watch the interview above.

There is no doubt that many IT teams have demonstrated that multi-year projects could be accelerated and switched on, like a light switch, in a matter of days. Yes, this was due to massive global upheaval and change, but it showed that nimble organisations were able to transform and survive.

Chris Buchanan shares some insights gained from the Dell Technologies Index 2020 that surveyed 4 300 respondents from 18 countries; allowing for South African organisations to be compared to their global peers. The index shows that digital transformation is seen as a critical business driver for economic growth, with 79% of organisations in South Africa having fast-tracked some digital transformation programmes in 2020 (on par with the 80% reported globally).

Digital transformation curve

Buchanan talks through the digital transformation curve that shows that although there has been no change in digital leaders in South Africa (8%), they remain two percentage points above the global average of 6%; most notably, there has been a 20 percentage point jump in digital adopters in South Africa and a 13 percentage point drop in digital followers. Digital laggards have dropped by two percentage points in South Africa, too.

Due to the changes experienced in 2020, many organisations have had to change the way they work. Ryall and Buchanan discuss how, with the advent of a remote, hybrid workforce, endpoint security and vulnerability must be taken into consideration. With the arrival of the home office at scale, essentially many devices which may contain confidential or sensitive data are now operating beyond the office VPN.

Buchanan emphasises the importance of organisations knowing where their data is stored and protecting that data both above and below the operating system level. With cyberattacks on the rise, Buchanan talks about products that have been added to the Safe Power Solutions list as well as the importance of a safe supply chain from manufacturer to customer, to prevent any malware being installed on devices.

Finally, Ryall and Buchanan discuss how Dell Technologies is ensuring that their products and packaging are environmentally in line with their 2030 Progress Made Real goals.

Aptly, this episode has a demonstration from Ryall on packaging, printing and actual PCs that are increasingly environmentally friendly.

Reach out to Dell Technologies South Africa on @DellTechZA (Facebook and Twitter) or delltechnologies.com.