There’s no doubt that COVID-19 has fundamentally changed how businesses and institutions operate. In the post-coronavirus world, digital transformation is no longer a buzzword or a nice-to-have – it’s now a necessity to move from a traditional workflow to one that fully embraces digital tools and services.
The events of the last 18 months have certainly accelerated change and forced organisations to adopt new technology faster than they normally would. Now that the initial shock has subsided, it’s critical for businesses to look at the benefits digital transformation can deliver in the medium and long term.
However, this is a journey they shouldn’t have to make alone – it’s here they can find support from a combination of channel service providers and technology firms, planning out a digital strategy to navigate the challenges that lie ahead. A black swan event, something unpredictable with potentially severe consequences, may not have been expected prior to 2020, but the pandemic has thrown the spotlight on the need for resilience, crisis management and a strong digital core.
It also highlights one of the most important aspects of modern business: trust. From employees to customers, channel providers and technology suppliers, trust needs to flow through every facet of an organisation. It needs to be earned and nurtured and, if lost, it’s difficult to recover.
IT’s new ecosystem
When we think about the new world of work, the office can now be located anywhere. A hybrid workforce operates from a central physical building and staff scattered remotely, and in both cases, employees need the right tools to carry out their jobs. Similarly, educational institutions, whose students and staff have been severely affected by the pandemic and lockdowns, need devices and a digital infrastructure they can rely on. Customers, meanwhile, often interact with a business solely through an online environment and don’t want any of their information to be lost or compromised.
In each case, trust is integral and it needs to be baked into the entire IT chain. Organisations like Huawei understand that building trust with channel partners is key to delivering tech solutions to meet specific business needs.
By June 2021, Huawei had over 22,000 sales partners, 1,800 solution partners, 5,900 service and operation partners, 1,600 talent alliances, and 100 investment and financing partners. Of those new partners around 19,000 have joined the Huawei CLOUD Partner Network (HCPN). Those in the global partner programme are given exposure to customers looking for value-added services and solutions, while the network also boasts 1.6 million developers to foster a thriving, innovative ecosystem.
Moving into 2021, Huawei is helping to cultivate and supply talent to the IT industry by establishing 2,000 Huawei ICT Academies and certifying 160,000 professionals. This is all part of a wider plan to transform the traditional partner system to cover the entire lifecycle – from consultation to planning, sales, delivery and operations for digital transformation at enterprise level.
Supporting enterprise
In this era of digital transformation, collaboration is critical for building trust and helping businesses to grow. Huawei works with hundreds of enterprises across the globe, including Mexican telecoms and IT services firm Totalplay Empresarial. Huawei has been the main provider of Totalplay’s fibre network for more than four years, with CEO Hector Nava describing the partnership as a “mutual collaboration” that has allowed his business to expand in that time.
“[That growth] is leveraged by the technology and the competitiveness of their offering,” Nava said. “Going forward with Huawei, the world is evolving technology-wise in this post-pandemic time. After COVID-19, there’s been a lot of shifts in paradigms in the industry so we’re evolving as well as the company.
“We rely heavily on tech, and we strive to be the most innovative company in Mexico. To that end we depend on our technology partners to go along with us. So our expectation with Huawei is to have them continuously improve their roadmap, their future capabilities and keep us ahead of our competition.
“Close collaboration between them and us is paramount so that we remain successful in the market. We’ve had very good experiences with them, we were the first to market with SD-WAN in Mexico.”
Turkish Airlines, meanwhile, embarked on a major digital transformation project with the help of Huawei. To coincide with the company’s new Istanbul airport, IT architecture had to be upgraded, outdated devices and processes removed, and passengers provided with a better flight experience. As part of the project, Huawei offered onsite support, including replacement spare parts, troubleshooting equipment, technical training and overall system health checks. Biral Ekşi, CEO of Turkish Airlines, praised Huawei’s “hard work in the transformation and upgrade of our new airport”.
Huawei's support empowers businesses across the world to thrive, and in turn deliver the best service and solution for their customers. With the world changing fast and technology advancing, partnerships with trust at their core are the ones that are built to last.
Huawei will host Huawei Connect 2021 online from 23 September to 31 October, complete with live broadcasts, digital exhibitions and the opportunity to connect with industry experts. The theme of this year's event is Dive into Digital. It will dive deep into the practical application of technologies like cloud, AI, and 5G in all industries, and how they can make organisations of all shapes and sizes more efficient, more versatile and, ultimately, more resilient as we move towards economic recovery.
For more information, contact Huawei’s local team or click here
