The traditional business environment is no more as consumer behaviour has shifted since the start of the pandemic. In addition, the challenges of working from home have increased the pace of digital transformation resulting in a disruption to technology and existing IT business strategies as the rate of business innovation rapidly increases.

Savvy business owners have already recognised that their IT departments are not an island on their own. Operational processes, organisational structures, and value chains are directly affected by outdated IT strategies, all of which can negatively impact company revenue. New technologies are needed to increase customer support, implement automation and clean up redundant or conflicting systems.

Most company executives have a basic understanding of the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), digital transformation and the like. Still, they are confused about how these different IT business models can be applied to their businesses. It helps to understand that these digital offerings are purely an extension to existing services, similar to an app, that enhance their ability to engage with their clients and meet their rapidly changing requirements.

New digital technologies need to create value for the consumer in terms of making their life easier. Whether this involves enabling them to access your business quickly, obtain information efficiently or improve your delivery turnaround times to them, your company’s objective should be to monetise your IT business model.

Strong Leadership Required To Frame Conversations Around Digital Transformation

To fully integrate these new technologies, your IT business model needs to be flexible, efficient and cost-effective to deliver significant value to all areas of your business, as well as to your clients. However, one significant change required and frequently overlooked is the cultural change needed within each company to walk away from outdated processes. This dynamic requires strong leadership skills to steer the business through the initial bumps and curves in the road ahead before a digital transformation can be successful.

Business executives need to consider the following elements when implementing a thorough digital transformation strategy:

• Customer experience
• Operational processes and flexibility
• Company culture
• Technology integration

While leadership may have the know-how when it comes to customers, operations, and their staff culture, integrating the correct technology will support cost-saving initiatives and allow IT to become the primary driver of business innovation.

The Value of an Experienced IT Company During Digital Transformation

Engaging the services of a professional and experienced IT company will assist your to build new capabilities tailored to your exact requirements, rather than offering you a general “one-size-fits-all” solution. It will also allow the employees to concentrate on the business activities at hand while leadership manages the essential cultural aspects of the company. This will, at large, relate to possible changes in job titles, departments and business processes, which may cause people to fear that their jobs are at risk and result in demotivation and resistance.

Westech, a professional IT support and services partner in South Africa, is highly experienced at servicing all major business sectors and assists companies with their digital transformation drives.

Contact us for more information.

The risks of not updating company software and other IT systems can be significant and highly detrimental to a business from both a financial and security point of view.

This year, the majority of companies have held back on their IT spend due to uncertainty in the market, as well as reduced revenue, mainly due to the pandemic lockdown. Although this is understandable in the short term, it is still imperative to ensure that that all IT systems remain update to avoid daily business operations coming to a grinding halt.

Nowadays, many software updates are done automatically, and sometimes we are not even aware that they have happened. Some updates still need to be performed manually though. The reason for these updates is to fix security flaws and bugs as well as to increase operational capabilities. By installing software updates, a company can reduce its risk of becoming vulnerable to hacking, viruses, breach of data and other security risks.

IT Security Risks

Although there are several reasons to maintain software updates, security should be at the forefront of a company’s concerns. Malware, hackers, viruses, phishing and ransomware are just some of the issues that can make a company vulnerable and put its sensitive data at risk.

Outdated Software

Eventually, all software becomes outdated. By applying regular updates, a company can keep its software relevant and benefit from the new functionality.

Compatibility Issues

Another issue that can arise from not keeping software updated is that older software may run into compatibility issues when files are exchanged between users utilising older software and those using more updated software.

Slow Response Times

Older software tends to deteriorate over time, as it accumulates junk date such as temporary files, log entries, cookies, etc. resulting in a degradation of performance and a slowing down of the system. Ultimately, this impacts on employee performance.

Westech, a premium IT support company in South Africa that offers IT software and hardware as well as networking and security support services, offers two affordable approaches to reduce security risks, data loss, slow systems and the resulting frustrations.

Firstly, Westech will assess the immediate risks and address and secure these for up to 12 months. After that, they conduct an overall assessment of the entire IT environment within the company and submit a 12 or 24-month road map wherein the required roll-outs would be implemented. These roll-out actions include;

• Migrating email to Microsoft 365.
• Migrating servers and applications to the cloud.
• Upgrading computer and networking equipment over a rental or lease agreement for 36 months.

These cost-effective actions enable companies to confidentially continue operating their IT systems, without having to consider high IT costs, downtime, technical support costs and security risks.

To ensure that your IT systems and software are always kept updated and maintained, contact Westech for a free quotation.

In a recent Mega Business seminar, Westech’s Roy Westfehling meets up with Robert Matthew Van Winkle, known professionally as Vanilla Ice to talk global tech strategy. Roy asked Vanilla Ice what strategy he adopts to grow his brand globally. Watch this YouTube video below to find out what he had to say.

Made famous by his smash hit song, Ice Ice Baby, Vanilla Ice is currently working on hosting of the DIY Network show The Vanilla Ice Project in which he is passionate about getting involved the personality-based, documentary-style reality TV series related to DIY projects on air.

Contact Westech to set up a meeting and find out how we can help you with your IT requirements.