“The pandemic impacts pushed companies over the digital transformation tipping point. In 2021, Australian organisations will solidify gains made during the height of the pandemic” says Neha Ralhan, research manager, IDC Australia and New Zealand.
She acknowledges that while the level of digital maturity will largely determine agenda, a strategic push to shore up digital resilience is at the forefront across industries.
“Hybrid working models, innovation at scale, training and addressing skill shortages, reallocating resources, and building up digital elasticity are key areas that Australian organisations will be focusing on to ensure they are ready for the new normal,” she added.
In 2021, digital transformation will be redefined as organisations of all sizes and digital maturity adapt to an environment where building resilience to thrive in the next normal becomes a priority. IDC predicts by 2022, enterprises focused on digital resilience will adapt to disruption and extend services to respond to new conditions 50% faster than ones fixated on restoring existing business and IT resilience levels.
"The levelling up of lagging technology systems and processes has been the silver lining for many organisations in 2020.”
“Forward thinking organisations and those looking to cement their competitive advantage will continue on the path of reconfiguring, and often reimagining, business models to better meet market needs and demands with technology underpinning offerings and operations. It is also important to note that the largest changes made by organisations, including cultural shifts and digital buy-in, are the ones that are more likely to last and deliver the greatest benefits longer term" says Ralhan.
Trends
Cloud-Centric IT: By the end of 2021, based on lessons learned, 80% of enterprises will put a mechanism in place to shift to cloud-centric infrastructure and applications twice as fast as before the pandemic.
Edge Acceleration: Through 2023, reactions to changing workforce and operations practices during the pandemic will be the dominant accelerators for 80% of edge-driven investments and business model changes in most industries.
Hybrid by Design: By the end of 2021, based on lessons learned, 80% of enterprises will put a mechanism in place to shift to cloud-centric infrastructure and applications twice as fast as before the pandemic.
Remediate Technical Debt: Through 2023, reactions to changed workforce and operations practices during the pandemic will be the dominant accelerators for 80% of edge-driven investments and business model changes in most industries.
Digital Resiliency: By 2023, 75% of ASX companies will commit to providing technical parity to a workforce that is hybrid by design rather than by circumstance, enabling them to work together separately and in real-time.
Automation Platforms: Through 2022, coping with technical debt accumulated during the pandemic will shadow 70% of CIOs, causing financial stress, inertial drag on IT agility, and "Forced March" migrations to the cloud.
Opportunistic AI Extension: In 2022, enterprises focused on digital resiliency will adapt to disruption and extend services to respond to new conditions 50% faster than ones fixated on restoring existing business/IT resiliency levels.
ICT Ecosystem: By 2023, an emerging cloud ecosystem for extending resource control and real-time analytics will be the underlying platform for all IT and business automation initiatives anywhere and everywhere.
ICT Joins Circular Economy: By 2025, 85% of ASX companies will mandate reusable materials in IT hardware supply chains, carbon neutrality targets for providers' facilities, and lower energy use as prerequisites for doing business.
People Still Matter: Through 2023, a third of enterprises' hybrid workforce and business automation efforts will be delayed or will fail outright due to underinvestment in building IT/Sec/DevOps teams with the right tools/skills.
