Unleash the innovator in you
The recent study by Dell Technologies emphasises businesses build a culture that treats people as the greatest source of innovation
Businesses achieved a lot in a short amount of time, but the change has left the workforce in need of time to recharge, reflect and refine,” says Walid Yehia, General Manager – UAE, Dell Technologies, who shares top insights on the impact of digital transformation on people, processes and productivity.
Dell Technologies' Breakthrough study capture people’s capacity for digital change at work. Could you shed light on how digital transformation has impacted employees and workplace dynamics?
For businesses across the globe, the past two years have been truly challenging yet transformative in their ways. To better understand these shifts and their far-reaching impact, Dell Technologies commissioned a study where we spoke to 10,500 senior decision-makers, IT professionals and knowledge workers across 40+ countries, including the UAE. Our survey determined how people are adapting to disruptive change and what organisations can do to unleash the innovator in all of us.
The study revealed that in the UAE, 92 per cent of business leaders regard their people as their greatest asset and more than half of the IT leaders (51 per cent) say their organisation knows what it takes to digitally transform a workforce. Subsequently, 73 per cent of the UAE respondents look forward to learning new skills and technologies to help elevate their careers. However, while many businesses accelerated their digital transformation programs, it has taken its toll on the workforce.
The study reveals the recent period of rapid transformation is leaving businesses and their workforce in need of time to recharge, reflect and refine before embarking on new projects.
Employees are now facing a challenge to keep up, with 57 per cent in the UAE believing their organisations underestimate how to engage with their people properly when planning transformation programmes.
How can business leaders improve and sustain workplace engagement?
We now operate in a hybrid and widely distributed world, and organisations across every industry need to embrace digital evolution quickly if they are to keep pace. Technology is the enabler of human capacity, so businesses need to look at people, technology, and processes as a whole, to be successful. The real sustainable breakthrough transformation happens at the intersection of people and technology. By building a culture that treats your people as the greatest source of innovation, UAE businesses can capitalise on the opportunity in front of them.
Businesses need to trust that their people will leverage technology to connect securely and responsibly, collaborate as effectively as they would sitting side by side, and seek innovative solutions to business problems. It must make concerted efforts to delegate repetitive tasks to automated processes and upskill its employees to focus on enriching higher-value work. To do all this, they need to create a culture that welcomes change. Businesses must work with a technology ally relentlessly focussing on creating innovative solutions, so they can focus on their people and releasing the innovator in them, not just managing infrastructure.
How can companies adapt for the future by embracing new technologies?
In today’s do-from-anywhere world, the future belongs to employees equipped to adapt and thrive wherever new opportunities exist. At Dell Technologies, we believe the route to releasing the innovator in all of us starts with breaking through across three frontiers of connectivity, productivity and empathy.
Breakthrough with connectivity: Companies must provide employees with consistent and secure work experiences not defined by where they work. Almost three-quarters (71 per cent) of respondents from the UAE say they need their organisations to provide the necessary tools and infrastructure to work from anywhere.
Breakthrough with productivity: Companies must elevate people's roles and create new opportunities and experiences that excite them and drive productivity. A total of 73 per cent of the respondents were keen to upskill themselves in machine learning and AI or focus on more strategic expertise to elevate their role.
Breakthrough with empathy: At its heart, businesses must build a culture, modelled by empathetic leaders that treat people as their greatest source of creativity and value. By applying empathy to everything businesses can drive transformational change.
Fact file : The Dell Technologies Breakthrough study
92 per cent of regional business leaders regard their people as their greatest asset.
57 per cent believe their organisation underestimates the people's requirements when planning transformation programmes.
While 71 per cent of all employees say their business needs to provide the necessary tools and infrastructure to work in a flexible environment, in a way that suits everyone.