In this article I hope to share some insights on the importance of businesspeople and professionals across all industries in understanding the value and content of technology that it creates. Especially for the decision-makers at Board level embracing and getting involved in evaluating technology, and understanding how it converts business into more business holistically is a must.

A company must maintain dynamism, as a distinctive advantage, and it is a must to invest for the future and downscale previous operations for transformation in its entirety for digital transformation in any industry.

In my 31 years of ICT experience and working at Just In Time Group (JIT), where we have made our mark as a leading provider of IT solutions and service support – we originally engaged in selling PCs, where we then shifted focus to being a systems integrator (SI) offering state-of-the-art, ICT solutions and services for the Banking, Government and Telco sectors. 

The tech disruption has already occurred, the bubble has already burst – but local adoption is where we need to focus and where the opportunities are. Organisations sometimes lean more towards adopting a let’s ‘wait and see’ stance, till they see the results of the maturity of technology. 

This is why digital adoption is sluggish or slow to kick off, typically due to the scale and necessity, and businesses or companies haven’t felt the hard impact of not adapting so far until the recent COVID-19 pandemic. The use of these technologies will definitely increase, as the country learns and develops through this pandemic, which we all need to be aware, understand to be on board with the right mindset and approach to adapt. Much more is achievable in the public and healthcare sectors. 

It is well known, that ‘Traditional Technology’ is slowly but steadily becoming outdated and almost redundant in some sectors, with the emergence of new opportunities through the change business models to adopt to emerging business needs.

It’s not just ICT companies, but all companies that are slow to adapt to future digital needs will see their bottom-lines being affected. Given the fact that IT is an enabler of transformation, having CTO or a CIO in the Board is the best management practice. If you don’t have a Board that understands technology the company cannot be progressive in this digital age.

The endless cybersecurity threats are growing day by day and we must all understand that firewalls alone cannot and will not solve these challenges. Businesses and companies must understand it is through enabling security operation centres (SOCs), embedded in the strategic road map that will give the solutions to mitigate and manage this challenge proactively. SOCs value is to provide multi-layered protection for multiple integrated security offerings that a business need to what it may encounter to resolve.

The role of companies like JIT, in the ICT Space, is to introduce technology so that our customers truly understand their needs to obtain the right solutions and value it brings top down and bottom up. Offering long-lasting, cutting-edge and sustainable solutions, to all our customers to remain competitive is what we should strive for and providing support on-site to address touch points of the customer is as important. 

This stems from the stability and integrity of what an ICT provider should offer, and which I can proudly say we do and have done stemming from our long-standing project of over 24 years.

Being a truly Sri Lankan company with over 24 years in business means we’re well-versed in the local IT landscape and customers can be confident that we’ll continue supporting them despite difficulties faced by the country. 

We strongly believe in positioning true value to our customers so that their information and communication technology-based investments gives them good returns over the years and less headaches. When a customer trusts us and shares their vision and pain points, we work on the solution as we have the advantage of having access to a wide array of technologies we have signed up. Essentially, we are a long-term partner and not just a one-off solution seller for enterprises.

Highlighting digital transformation and adopting technology to drive business growth, is the hot topic all around, as what was relevant yesterday becomes irrelevant tomorrow – this is a global certainty, and this is why we need to keep feeding our innovation mindset. This is what drives myself, my team and our company to stay focused on providing innovative solutions and support in Sri Lanka’s ICT landscape and I believe we have been a key game changer in this space since our inception 24 years back.

(The writer is the CEO of Just In Time Groups and comes with 31 years of experience in the ICT Sector with three years working overseas. He has been involved in landmark ICT Projects across banking, telco and Government sectors giving him the knowledge and depth and breadth exposure for his insights.)