Decentralisation of IT can benefit businesses
dubai — A majority of business leaders across the Middle East believe that the management of technology is shifting away from IT to other departments, and that this decentralisation offers certain benefits such as a greater freedom to innovate.
New research by VMware revealed that 66 per cent of Middle East IT decision makers and business leaders feel that the decentralisation of IT has given them the ability to launch new products and services to the market with greater speed; while 69 per cent believe that it is driving innovation. In addition, 64 per cent believe that it has created an increasing responsiveness to market conditions.
There are also positives from a skills perspective, with the shift in technology ownership beyond IT to the broader business seen to increase employee satisfaction and help attract better talent.
This move, however, is not without its challenges; 62 per cent of leaders from across the business believe this is causing a duplication of spend on IT services. Around 47 per cent say it creates a lack of clear ownership and responsibility for IT; and 52 per cent say it leads to the purchase of unsecure solutions.
Core functions
Furthermore, this decentralisation movement is happening against the wishes of IT teams, with the majority of them, at 76 per cent, wanting IT to become more centralised. In particular, IT leaders feel that core functions such as network security and compliance, storage and private cloud-based services should remain in their control.
“Middle East organisations are punching above the EMEA region’s average in decentralising IT, to deliver business benefits for customers and employees — bringing products to market faster, driving innovation and increasing employee satisfaction,” says Deepak Narain, regional presales manager — Middle East and North Africa for VMware.
“Middle East digital transformation is vital for enhancing the competitiveness of every Middle East organisation’s lines of business in the Internet of Things era and digital economy. However, deploying digital solutions alone is not enough. The Middle East C-suite needs to lead change management to bring together the IT team and lines of business to deliver digital success together,” Narain noted.
The ownership for driving innovation within organisations is not
Latest technology will only drive digital transformation when it’s able to cross any cloud, to be available at speed and with ease within a secure environment
Joe Baguley, vice-president and chief technology officer for the EMEA region at VMware
disputed among business leaders. Seventy per cent believe that IT should enable the lines of business to drive innovation, but must set the strategic direction and be accountable for security.
Joe Baguley, vice-president and chief technology officer for the EMEA region at VMware, said: “Managing this change is the great organisational challenge companies face. The rise of the cloud has democratised IT, with its ease of access and attractive costing models, so it’s no surprise that lines of business have jumped on this opportunity. Too often, however, we’re seeing this trend left unchecked and without adequate IT governance, meaning that organisations across EMEA are driving up costs, compromising security and muddying the waters as to who does what as they look to evolve.”
“The decentralisation movement is happening, driven by the need for speed in today’s business world: we’ve never seen such a desire for new, immediately available applications, services and ways of working. By recognising these changes are happening and adapting to them, IT can still be an integral part of leading this charge of change. The latest technology or application will only truly drive digital transformation when it’s able to cross any cloud, to be available at speed and with ease within a secure environment,” he added.
— rohma@khaleejtimes.com