Most digital fixes do not serve long-term purposes

During the pandemic, businesses had to make fast, digital investments to quickly adapt to reality and become agile in no time. Most businesses were already on a digital transformation journey. But the global pandemic changed their focus completely. Businesses had to fight fires instead of thinking long-term purposes.   

Telefónica Tech, Pipol’s mother company, has made a survey among 810 IT professionals that gives insight into what technology solutions their businesses relied on during the pandemic and how these would serve them in the long run.  

The survey which includes respondents in Brazil, Germany, Spain, UK, and the Republic of Ireland, found that 81% of respondents made digital fixes during the pandemic that do not serve long-term purposes. The move to remote working was a primary reason to accelerate the digital transformation. However, with many deployments of technology made under duress, businesses are asking themselves whether they’ve made the right investments for the long term, whether it’s concerning collaboration, data and insights, or security.  

Although, there is a huge amount to be learnt from the way that businesses rapidly transitioned digitally during the pandemic, the pandemic has shed light on new top priorities: Cloud and security. 

According to María Jesús Almazor, CEO Telefónica Tech Cyber Security & Cloud, “cloud technology and the reliance on secure hybrid working practices is a certainty as we look ahead. As organizations advance their digital transformation journeys, security should continue to be a key consideration woven into all business plans to maintain operational effectiveness and reputation management.”  

Top tips on cloud and security 

Telefónica Tech recommends a list of tips when it comes to navigating an organization’s journey to the cloud whilst keeping security front of mind. Some of them are mentioned below:  

• Cloud transformation affects the whole business from finance to HR, so while the overall strategy needs to be led from the top down, every department needs to be heard to make sure their requirements for the cloud are met.  

• Businesses must understand their workload behaviors prior to moving them to the cloud. Are these applications that you’re moving to the cloud ready? If not, you’re probably moving the problem to a different location without resolving it. This could incur unnecessary costs.  

• A common misconception when moving to the cloud from an on premise infrastructure is to keep existing security solutions. This gives some form of protection, but because the cloud works in a very different way to on premise, you need a toolset that will adapt to the environment; whether that’s public or hybrid cloud or on-premise.  

Learn more and get access to the entire research here: Planting Digital Seeds for the Future