EDITOR ’ S COMMENT higher than the global average – and this is making their day-to-day activities extremely challenging , if not impossible . They ’ re being asked to deliver Digital Transformation at ever greater speeds and
maintain faultless digital experiences at all times , yet they ’ re unable to easily identify technology performance issues and monitor their IT estate in a single , unified view .
Regional technologists don ’ t just need visibility into IT performance to tackle complexity , they also need to understand how performance issues impact customers and the business . They need a business lens on technology performance in order to prioritise actions , innovation and investment based on real-world commercial impact .
Despite the critical role that technology is now playing within organisations across the Emirates , many technologists still lack the strategy and tools to effectively measure how technology decisions impact business outcomes .
Will complexity de-rail Digital Transformation ?
On a day-to-day basis , the inability to link technology performance to customer and business outcomes makes it extremely difficult for technologists to make the right decisions as they look to drive innovation and deliver faultless digital experiences . 64 % admit that they waste a lot of time because they can ’ t easily isolate where performance issues are actually happening . And even when they do identify issues , technologists don ’ t know which of them actually matter most . The result is long hours spent and huge frustration in the IT department .
UAE technologists are rightly concerned about the consequences of not connecting IT performance to real-time business data . 83 % fear that the inability to connect full-stack observability with business performance will be detrimental to their business in 2021 and 67 % are worried that it will mean they cannot exploit the full benefits of the Digital Transformation they have already driven over the past year .
Organisations simply can ’ t afford to jeopardise the innovation gains of 2020 or to falter as they look for even greater innovation in the year ahead .
A new toolkit to tackle complexity
The landscape in which technologists are operating has changed massively due to the pandemic . For more than a year , technologists have been working under intense pressure at the sharp end of their organisations ’ response to the pandemic , battling through complexity to deliver innovation and seamless digital experiences . And it should be said that technologists in the region have undeniably risen to the challenge .
But we ’ ve now reached a point where traditional , pre-pandemic tools and processes have been rendered obsolete in the face of this heightened IT complexity . With the speed of Digital Transformation set to accelerate even further over the year ahead , business and IT leaders need to take notice : almost all ( 99 %) UAE technologists state that having the ability to monitor all technical areas across their IT stack and directly link technical performance to business outcomes will be important during 2021 ; 79 % of them cite this as being critical to their ability to meet their organisations ’ innovation goals .
The message is clear . Unless technologists have access to a whole new level of visibility and insight into technology performance and the ability to link this to business outcomes , then organisations in the UAE are hugely jeopardising their Digital Transformation ambitions . Surely that is a risk no business can afford to take in 2021 . •
With heightened pressure to deliver faultless digital experiences to customers and employees at all times , technologists have recognised the need to monitor the full IT estate , from customer-facing applications through to third party services and core infrastructure such as network and security .
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS Issue 42 17