Dell Urges CIOs to Adopt Secure Technology for Business Growth

Emma Okonji

Dell Technologies, a multinational technology company has urged Chief Information Officers (CIOs) across Africa to adopt agile and secure technology systems to remain competitive in the business space.

The Vice President for Dell Technologies Emerging Africa Region, Habib Mahakian, gave the advice during the Dell Technologies Emerging Africa Forum, which held online recently.

According to him, to stay competitive, CIOs of organisations needed an agile and secure system that could be tailored to business needs and expanded over time to steer more opportunities.

Mahakian said one common element that would stand out, particularly across emerging Africa, has been the power of technology since May 2020.

“Most businesses across Africa harnessed technology as an accelerator to fuel socio economic growth and success. In fact, in a survey we did recently in Morocco with 100 CIOs, we found out that 48 per cent persons see themselves as technology leaders of their organisation. With the push for digital transformation across both the private and the public sectors, technology will be the key in driving economic recovery, across emerging Africa after the pandemic,’’ Mahakian said.

He urged CIOs to secure tech systems that could be tailored to business needs.

Speaking on the company’s plan, Mahakian said as a technology company, Dell’s aim was to ensure that customers and partners were able to harness the power of technology to drive human progress.

He said as part of the company’s commitment to the African region, one of its Centres of Excellence in Casablanca, Morocco, was supporting businesses across Africa. “The centre leads a programme around youth skills development and partnership with academic institution,’’ Mahakian said.

Senior Vice President, Middle East, Russia, Africa and Turkey (MERAT), for Dell Technologies, Mohammed Amin, said Africa was transiting to a part of the global economy.

He said Africa and technology was playing a significant role in driving business success, future investment and modernisation. He cited a recent report, which states that consumers across the globe spent 900 billion dollars more on online retail in 2020 compared to 2019.
Amin said 52 per cent of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would be driven by digital transport enterprise by 2023.

The Chief Executive Officer at Dell Technologies, Michael Dell, said technology had never been more central to global progress. He said that technology had played a leading role in education, banking, healthcare, entertainment, retail, manufacturing, telecom, and most helped during the pandemic.