The global pandemic has forced businesses and governments to speed up digital transformation – in many cases, completing in weeks what may have in the past taken months or even years.
In the UAE, the launch of the ALHOSN UAE app was swift and effective in helping protect the nation at a time of uncertainty. The app was designed to help limit the spread of the virus by locating and identifying people who either tested positive for COVID-19 or have been in contact with a patient.
And according to new research from IBM, nearly five in ten organisations in the UAE are increasingly prioritizing their digital transformation over the next two years due to the disruption the pandemic caused across all facets of business and day to day life. This sense of urgency needs to carry over to any company’s most valuable assets—its people—as the users of that technology.
In its new research, on COVID-19 and the future of business, IBM surveyed more than 3,800 C-Suite executives in 20 countries, including the UAE, and 22 industries. We found that even as companies have rushed to adopt the technologies necessary not only to survive but thrive as business enterprises, too many of their employees feel stressed and even overwhelmed.
And executives recognise the problem: They reported employee burnout, inadequate skills and organisational complexity are their biggest hurdles to progress today and in the next two years.
It’s one thing to nimbly retool and modernise the workplace. It’s quite another to expect workers to adjust quickly to the upheaval. Too many people feel the pandemic has affected their mental health and well-being and they don’t think their bosses are doing enough to help them.
Our executive survey indicates those workers are right: There is a gaping chasm between what executives think they are offering their employees and how those employees feel.
To address this growing concern on mental health and overall well-being, the Ministry of Health and Prevention in the UAE established a dedicated hotline to respond psychological concerns and anxiety related to COVID-19. The National Programme for Happiness and Wellbeing also rolled out an online campaign to support the UAE’s community to help overcome the psychological impact of the pandemic.
.jpg?AbcLZogR)
The UAE rolled out an online campaign to support the community to help overcome the psychological impact of the pandemic
Today, many employees across all industries are being asked to innovate amid challenges of a kind they’ve never seen before, like massive spikes and dips in consumer demand. The move to remote work can also undermine the personal connections that help define many corporate cultures. And the quality and reliability of work-from-home tools may lag significantly behind people’s needs.
Executives recognise that their employees have been under intense pressure, and they contend that employee well-being is among their highest priorities. In fact, Seventy six percent of executives in the UAE think they have been helping their employees learn the skills needed to work in a new way.
The ongoing disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic has shown how important it can be for businesses to be built for change. In addition, the study reveals that the majority of organisations are making permanent changes to their organisational strategy. For instance, 91 percent of UAE executives surveyed plan to participate in platform-based business models by 2022, and many reported they will increase participation in ecosystems and partner networks.
Hossam Seif El-Din, General Manager, IBM Middle East and Pakistan
Executing new strategies may require a more scalable and flexible IT infrastructure. Executives are already anticipating this: the survey showed UAE respondents plan over a 26 percentage point increase in prioritisation of cloud technology in the next two years.
What’s more, UAE executives surveyed plan to move more of their business functions to the cloud over the next two years, with customer engagement and marketing being the top two cloudified functions.
A flexible organisation that can transform itself quickly during the next crisis requires building trust and confidence among employees. And while we cannot be entirely ready without knowing the nature of a crisis, what we have learned at IBM is that through leadership, empowerment, collaboration, technology and flexibility all businesses can better prepare for future threats.