Guiding mid-sized businesses through change - Digestible insight for tech and business leaders, presented by Jason Bradbury - Dell Technologies
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DELL TALKS
Guiding mid-sized
businesses through change
Digestible insight for tech and business
leaders, presented by Jason Bradbury
Innovation
Built-in
1/26
Foreword
Forward 2 Let’s face it—the pandemic has thrown up challenge after challenge for mid-sized
businesses. But speaking to seven experts from Dell Technologies really opened my eyes
The freedom to think big 3 to the creative and resourceful ways in which companies are responding.
Together, we recorded a podcast aimed at tackling the issues that U.K. mid-sized
Threatscape 2021 6 businesses are facing right now. In the series, we covered cybersecurity, digital
transformation, working from home, presenting a business case for tech transformation,
Executing when it matters 9 and more.
Everyone I spoke to had good stories to tell and seemed optimistic about the future.
Getting buy-in for your tech strategy 12 And while they were all tech evangelists, they agreed that technology would never solve
business problems on its own.
Future-proofing digital transformation 15 In this eBook, we share some of the key insights, challenges, solutions and
headscratchers that mid-sized U.K. businesses will have to deal with in 2021 and beyond.
Security in a distributed workforce 18 Nonetheless, this is only a taster of the topics we discussed. Check out the entire series
on Dell Technologies, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music,
Podcast Addict, Podchaser, or Podcast Index.
Plain sailing after the panic? 21
Transformative technologies to turn 24
your plans into results Jason Bradbury
Broadcaster and technology writer
Next steps 25
2/26 Guiding mid-sized businesses through change
Forward 2
The freedom to think big 3 The freedom to think big
Threatscape 2021 6
“Re-investing in innovation is
Executing when it matters 9 fundamentally where every
organisation needs to go. By
Getting buy-in for your tech strategy 12
treating IT as a pure cost and
Future-proofing digital transformation 15 focussing only on making it as
efficient as possible, you’ll miss
Security in a distributed workforce 18
out on the business opportunity
Plain sailing after the panic? 21 that technology provides.”
Transformative technologies to turn 24 Tim Loake
Vice President, Infrastructure Solutions Group, UK&I at Dell Technologies
your plans into results
Next steps 25
3/26 Guiding mid-sized businesses through change
Guiding mid-sized businesses through change
The freedom to think big
Forward 2
How do IT teams at mid-sized businesses find time to innovate when they
The freedom to think big 3 spend most of their energy just keeping the lights on?
Working with limited budgets, resources and skill sets, IT teams’ first priority is to keep the
Threatscape 2021 6 business functioning by troubleshooting and fighting fires wherever they find them. As such,
it can be tricky for IT managers to find the time and headroom to dedicate to the new projects
Executing when it matters 9 that will move the needle for their businesses and their careers.
Getting buy-in for your tech strategy 12
Future-proofing digital transformation 15
Security in a distributed workforce 18
Plain sailing after the panic? 21
Transformative technologies to turn 24
your plans into results
Next steps 25
4/26 Guiding mid-sized businesses through change
The freedom to think big
Forward 2
Keeping the lights on versus innovation
The freedom to think big 3 The tendency in mid-sized companies—especially ones that don’t have IT at the
core of what they do—is to treat it as a cost and make cuts wherever they can to
Threatscape 2021 6 improve profitability. But by not investing in technological innovation when digital
disruption is affecting every industry, they risk missing major opportunities.
Executing when it matters 9 We don’t mean simply buying new equipment for the sake of it. We mean thinking
about how the strategic application of technology can drive their business forward.
Getting buy-in for your tech strategy 12 Twenty-five years ago, almost no mid-sized retailer had an online presence. By
2020, some did, and some didn’t, and those that did fared a lot better than those
Future-proofing digital transformation 15 who had always dismissed e-commerce as a “nice to have”.
The quest for headroom
Security in a distributed workforce 18 We often see digital teams tasked with delivering change, but this can be a job
for traditional IT departments. Planning tomorrow’s digital vision and maintaining
Plain sailing after the panic? 21 today’s business-as-usual are closely linked. A dual-function team can see the steps
a business needs to take as well as the practicalities of operating in this new mode.
Transformative technologies to turn 24 Our responsibility as a technology provider is to give customers the headroom they
your plans into results need. Small investments in infrastructure can generate large savings in time and
money. Sure, businesses can call that a win for their bottom line, but it’s our duty of
care to show how careful reinvestment in new initiatives can put the business on a
Next steps 25
better footing to thrive in the future.
5/26 Guiding mid-sized businesses through change
Forward 2
The freedom to think big 3
Threatscape 2021
Threatscape 2021 6
“Now the perimeter has
Executing when it matters 9
shifted. It’s moved from
Getting buy-in for your tech strategy 12 the office to our homes, so
businesses have to rethink
Future-proofing digital transformation 15
how people connect to
Security in a distributed workforce 18 critical data and what kind
Plain sailing after the panic?
of protection is required.”
21
Sonya Mathieu
Director, Cyber Resilience and Data Protection UK at Dell Technologies
Transformative technologies to turn 24
your plans into results
Next steps 25
6/26 Guiding mid-sized businesses through change
Threatscape 2021
Forward 2
If you follow the industry news—especially the cybersecurity pages—now can
seem like a pretty scary time to running a mid-sized business.
The freedom to think big 3
Cybercrime is big money, and the resources that criminals have at their disposal are frightening.
Threatscape 2021 6 Compared to robbing a bank, extorting money via ransomware or fraud is vastly more profitable,
and the chances of being caught—let alone prosecuted—are much lower, making it an appealing
source of income.
Executing when it matters 9
This being the case, it’s little wonder that mid-sized businesses, who often lack dedicated
Getting buy-in for your tech strategy 12 cybersecurity professionals and rely on enthusiastic members of the IT team, are vulnerable targets.
Future-proofing digital transformation 15
Security in a distributed workforce 18
Plain sailing after the panic? 21
Transformative technologies to turn 24
your plans into results
Next steps 25
7/26 Guiding mid-sized businesses through change
Threatscape 2021
Forward 2
Walls won’t cut it alone
The freedom to think big 3 Defensive tactics have traditionally involved blocking threats. At one time, this meant
using a firewall in a corporate network, but today’s perimeter has shifted. More and
more people, devices and data now reside outside the company. Moreover, many
Threatscape 2021 6 companies have had to contend with their entire workforce working remotely,
beyond the corporate network.
Executing when it matters 9
In addition, tactics have changed. Attackers know that it’s relatively difficult and
resource intensive to hack into networks using code alone. But breaking in via
Getting buy-in for your tech strategy 12 employees is much easier. For instance, they can be tricked into clicking on a
legitimate-looking URL or pressured into transferring money using techniques that
owe as much to Victorian con artists as 21st-century high-tech warfare.
Future-proofing digital transformation 15
Prepare for when, not if
Security in a distributed workforce 18 This loss of direct control requires a shift in mindset. We see mid-sized businesses
moving away from blocking towards a more holistic cyber-resilience. Because the risk
of a breach is ever-present, mid-sized companies should plan for every eventuality,
Plain sailing after the panic? 21 including restoring to minimal operations as quickly as possible after an attack.
This should go alongside a robust data protection strategy, with a comprehensive
Transformative technologies to turn 24 understanding of the different levels of protection that various data types require.
your plans into results
Living in fear is no way to run a business. With the proper levels of resilience, you
won’t have to.
Next steps 25
8/26 Guiding mid-sized businesses through change
Forward 2
The freedom to think big 3
Threatscape 2021 6 Executing when it matters
Executing when it matters 9 “I fear that a lot of good ideas
Getting buy-in for your tech strategy 12 get thrown out because
businesses don’t know how
Future-proofing digital transformation 15
to execute them.”
Security in a distributed workforce 18 Eanna O’Dowd
Director Sales Engineering,
Infrastructure Solutions Group at Dell Technologies
Plain sailing after the panic? 21
Transformative technologies to turn 24
your plans into results
Next steps 25
9/26 Guiding mid-sized businesses through change
Guiding mid-sized businesses through change
Forward 2 Executing when it matters
The freedom to think big 3 If 2020 has taught businesses anything, it’s that best laid plans may
have to change at a moment’s notice, and the timeframes for making
Threatscape 2021 6 decisions have become shorter.
Mid-sized companies reach out to Dell Technologies because they need to solve a problem.
Executing when it matters 9 An engagement usually starts with creating a detailed spec of what they require.
Getting buy-in for your tech strategy 12 It’s only by probing a little deeper that it is possible to uncover some of the fascinating business
problems that underly these requests. And many customers are surprised to learn that Dell
Technologies doesn’t always approach the problems in the same way they do. But that’s OK.
Future-proofing digital transformation 15
Security in a distributed workforce 18
Plain sailing after the panic? 21
Transformative technologies to turn 24
your plans into results
Next steps 25
10/26 Guiding mid-sized businesses through changeForward 2 Executing when it matters
The freedom to think big 3
So many missed opportunities
Frequently, great ideas are left by the roadside because companies don’t
Threatscape 2021 6 know how to execute, or they’re not prepared to shoulder the risk.
Take for example one retailer that wanted more servers. By asking the
Executing when it matters 9 right questions, it was found that the real problem was the company’s
website, which couldn’t host all the products in its portfolio or handle all
Getting buy-in for your tech strategy 12 the transactions. This potential driver of growth was actually stifling the
business. Based on this discovery, the company completely revamped its IT,
installing a new data centre in the process that paid for itself within a year.
Future-proofing digital transformation 15
Adjust your expectations
Security in a distributed workforce 18 Buying new hardware will almost never fix a problem like this customer had.
Still, executing on such a complex and seemingly disruptive programme of
work to completely re-host a website seems daunting.
Plain sailing after the panic? 21
This project didn’t actually achieve 100 percent of what it set out to
accomplish—ambitious digital projects like this rarely do. But sometimes,
Transformative technologies to turn 24
a move in the right direction is enough. Breaking down big projects into
your plans into results meaningful steps with milestones along the way means that small wins come
more easily and more frequently.
Next steps 25
11/26 Guiding mid-sized businesses through changeForward 2
The freedom to think big 3
Getting buy-in for your tech strategy
Threatscape 2021 6
“You can pay cash for your
Executing when it matters 9
technology, but lots of
Getting buy-in for your tech strategy 12 customers don’t want to
invest in a depreciating
Future-proofing digital transformation 15
asset. They don’t want to
Security in a distributed workforce 18 tie up cash in IT when they
Plain sailing after the panic?
could spend it on research.”
21
Sue Scriven
Regional Marketing Manager,
Transformative technologies to turn 24 Dell Financial Services at Dell Technologies
your plans into results
Next steps 25
12/26 Guiding mid-sized businesses through changeForward 2
Getting buy-in for your tech strategy
IT teams understand the transformative impact technology can have, but it’s
The freedom to think big 3
difficult to get the financial case across for new investment when IT isn’t a
company’s core focus.
Threatscape 2021 6
Mid-sized businesses want to preserve cash, so IT must do more with less, maintaining the
status quo without the luxury of looking at future needs.
Executing when it matters 9
Getting buy-in for your tech strategy 12
Future-proofing digital transformation 15
Security in a distributed workforce 18
Plain sailing after the panic? 21
Transformative technologies to turn 24
your plans into results
Next steps 25
13/26 Guiding mid-sized businesses through changeForward 2
Getting buy-in for your tech strategy
The freedom to think big 3 The pandemic shook things up
This year, many companies have needed to deploy remote working almost
overnight, and many others had to move quickly as their businesses faced new
Threatscape 2021 6 challenges and constraints with little ability to plan for the future.
For mid-sized customers, it was the first time they looked for alternative ways to
Executing when it matters 9
pay for or consume technology. They saw options like leasing, financing or as-a-
service models as good ways to increase flexibility while de-risking IT investments.
Getting buy-in for your tech strategy 12
Flexible consumption eases budget pressure
One customer had an urgent need for laptops to enable home working, even
Future-proofing digital transformation 15 though they hadn’t planned for this in their IT budget. Instead of finding capital for
depreciating assets that they might not need in six months’ time, they chose to
Security in a distributed workforce 18 lease, or pay on a per-user-per-month basis.
Other customers find value in the flexibility. A university recently deployed new
Plain sailing after the panic? 21 storage arrays but paid for only 50 percent of the capacity. Because students are
not in class for much of the year, the university’s needs change, and if it exceeds
Transformative technologies to turn 24 the paid-for capacity, it simply buys more storage.
your plans into results
Budget is the biggest barrier to digital transformation, but it needn’t be. New
ways to consume IT are transforming the business case for rapid, measurable and
Next steps 25 sustainable change.
14/26 Guiding mid-sized businesses through changeForward 2
The freedom to think big 3
Threatscape 2021 6
Future-proofing digital transformation
Executing when it matters 9
“Sports coaches have known this
Getting buy-in for your tech strategy 12
for years: If you come up with
Future-proofing digital transformation 15 an idea and it doesn’t work, go
to Plan B straightaway. ”
Security in a distributed workforce 18
Paul Brook
SAP, Oracle and Microsoft SQL PreSales Manager EMEA at Dell Technologies
Plain sailing after the panic? 21
Transformative technologies to turn 24
your plans into results
Next steps 25
15/26 Guiding mid-sized businesses through changeFuture-proofing digital transformation
Companies have had to move with the digital times, or they wouldn’t be in
Forward 2
business right now.
The freedom to think big 3 Markets, businesses and technologies will continue to change in unpredictable ways. But how
do you de-risk your strategies and retain the flexibility you need?
Threatscape 2021 6
Executing when it matters 9
Getting buy-in for your tech strategy 12
Future-proofing digital transformation 15
Security in a distributed workforce 18
Plain sailing after the panic? 21
Transformative technologies to turn 24
your plans into results
Next steps 25
16/26 Guiding mid-sized businesses through changeFuture-proofing digital transformation
Forward 2 Who’s responsible for innovation?
Mid-sized companies—especially those where technology isn’t a core part of
the business—might be reluctant to embrace emerging concepts like artificial
The freedom to think big 3 intelligence, the internet of things or machine learning. Many haven’t yet fully
embraced the internet era.
Threatscape 2021 6
That’s not entirely surprising, given that these businesses are running on tight
budgets in difficult economic times. And they are less likely than large enterprises to
Executing when it matters 9 have specialists dedicated to technological innovation.
Of course, new technology isn’t a magic bullet—it has to be applied to a
Getting buy-in for your tech strategy 12 business problem. And that’s the first hurdle where many companies fall. Lack of
understanding of how a technology works prevents many from seeing its potential
Future-proofing digital transformation 15 for their business. Many more still find it difficult to clearly articulate their business
problems. They’re immersed in day-to-day operations and sometimes fail to take a
step back and see the situation from an outsider’s perspective.
Security in a distributed workforce 18
Fail fast, fail often
Plain sailing after the panic? 21 Once you’ve identified the problem, you can begin to solve it. The good news is
that experimentation has never been less risky. Mid-sized businesses can’t afford to
carry years of failure with them, so if you come up with an idea that doesn’t work,
Transformative technologies to turn 24 drop it as soon as you can and move on to the next.
your plans into results
But how to establish whether an idea is working or not? Here, mid-sized companies
actually have an advantage over large enterprises. The latter must measure success,
Next steps 25 which means defining it numerically and setting up systems to track it. Smaller
organisations can rely more on their gut instincts. They know their customers,
employees and markets intimately. They can get direct feedback and act on it
quicker, shortening the path to success.
17/26 Guiding mid-sized businesses through changeForward 2
The freedom to think big 3
Security in a distributed workforce
Threatscape 2021 6 “Having artificial intelligence
in the background doing all
Executing when it matters 9
the big number crunching
Getting buy-in for your tech strategy 12 makes my job a lot easier.
Future-proofing digital transformation 15
My customers don’t want
their client devices using
Security in a distributed workforce 18 lots of resource just to
Plain sailing after the panic? 21 prevent criminals hacking
into their systems.”
Transformative technologies to turn 24
your plans into results Sean Towns
Endpoint Security Specialist at Dell Technologies
Next steps 25
18/26 Guiding mid-sized businesses through changeSecurity in a distributed workforce
Forward 2
Back in March 2020, organisations were forced to adapt to remote working
The freedom to think big 3 overnight, with security an afterthought in many cases.
Some had been moving towards this for years. For others, it was more of a scramble as they rushed
Threatscape 2021 6 to find enough devices and deploy the collaboration and connectivity tools to make it possible.
It’s an incredible testament to the flexibility of modern businesses that this happened with relatively
Executing when it matters 9
few hiccups, but the focus was firmly on enablement, not protection.
Getting buy-in for your tech strategy 12
Future-proofing digital transformation 15
Security in a distributed workforce 18
Plain sailing after the panic? 21
Transformative technologies to turn 24
your plans into results
Next steps 25
19/26 Guiding mid-sized businesses through changeSecurity in a distributed workforce
Forward 2
The value of hybrid AV
The freedom to think big 3 With devices and data now outside the corporate network and off their property,
mid-sized businesses need to ensure that endpoints are protected.
Threatscape 2021 6 Traditional anti-virus (AV) and anti-malware solutions are a baseline. Next-generation
technology in this area uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to look for
Executing when it matters 9 event patterns and block what it predicts to be a threat. Using this in combination
with traditional, highly efficient AV provides a better level of protection. Encryption,
too, is a must—both for portable devices and the data they contain.
Getting buy-in for your tech strategy 12
New threats require new solutions
Future-proofing digital transformation 15 Attackers can still access devices using social engineering techniques like
phishing—a practice that’s greatly increasing—or by infiltrating poorly secured home
networks. Anti-virus software will rarely pick this up, but endpoint detection and
Security in a distributed workforce 18 response software will.
As any IT pro knows, users will find a way to get their jobs done, even if that
Plain sailing after the panic? 21
means bypassing security and data-protection controls. When they need to share
confidential corporate data, remote workers might use unauthorised cloud services,
Transformative technologies to turn 24 for example. Here’s where data leakage prevention technology comes into its own,
your plans into results identifying when critical data is about to leave corporate jurisdiction and preventing it.
The world of cybersecurity never stands still. But as new challenges emerge, the
Next steps 25 good guys develop smarter defences to redress the balance.
20/26 Guiding mid-sized businesses through changeForward 2
The freedom to think big 3
Plain sailing after the panic?
Threatscape 2021 6
“Every business is
Executing when it matters 9
rethinking its workforce
Getting buy-in for your tech strategy 12 strategy. The workforce
has changed, locations
Future-proofing digital transformation 15
have changed and the
Security in a distributed workforce 18 approach to management
Plain sailing after the panic? 21
has to move accordingly.”
Dan Homolka
Services Director at Dell Technologies
Transformative technologies to turn 24
your plans into results
Next steps 25
21/26 Guiding mid-sized businesses through changePlain sailing after the panic?
Forward 2
You had to move fast, now it’s time to move smart. Now we’ve had the
opportunity to reflect, what’s the plan?
The freedom to think big 3
U.K. companies responded with incredible speed to lockdown and transitioned quickly to
Threatscape 2021 6 working from home—but it wasn’t easy for everyone.
Dell Technologies has been on a journey towards remote working for the past 10 years, but
Executing when it matters 9 going from 15,000 to 150,000 remote workers almost overnight was still a challenge—and we’re
a technology company! We saw how our smaller customers with fewer resources had to adapt
Getting buy-in for your tech strategy 12 with impressive flexibility, speed and confidence.
Remote working is now a regular part of life for millions of people who were once based in the
Future-proofing digital transformation 15 office. For IT managers, this presents new challenges.
Security in a distributed workforce 18
Plain sailing after the panic? 21
Transformative technologies to turn 24
your plans into results
Next steps 25
22/26 Guiding mid-sized businesses through changePlain sailing after the panic?
Forward 2
Adjusting to the new workplace
The freedom to think big 3 Every business is rethinking its workforce strategy. The shift is as much cultural
as it is technological. Mobile computing has been the norm for a decade or more,
and we’ve had the tools to collaborate and communicate online for a similar
Threatscape 2021 6 amount of time—it’s just taken a major external event to force mass adoption.
Companies are realising that work is no longer somewhere you go, it’s something
Executing when it matters 9 you do. Managers understand that home life and work life now co-exist, and we
have to find ways to effortlessly switch between the two. Consequently, the focus
Getting buy-in for your tech strategy 12 becomes less on being in a certain place at certain times, and more on results
Better get used to it
Future-proofing digital transformation 15 Customer expectations of technology have risen. High-quality cameras, speakers
and microphones on laptops are expected nowadays. And IT teams are switching
Security in a distributed workforce 18 to cloud-based management tools—another solution that’s been around for years
without a compelling trigger to deploy. We have also seen increased uptake of
managed PC services, so that employees get fully provisioned devices delivered
Plain sailing after the panic? 21 to their doorsteps without the device having to pass through IT.
The status quo is likely to remain for the foreseeable future. This means teams
Transformative technologies to turn 24
should consider start preparing now for refresh cycles without employees being in
your plans into results the office.
Next steps 25
23/26 Guiding mid-sized businesses through changeTransformative technologies
Forward 2
to turn your plans into results
The freedom to think big 3
Server solutions
Threatscape 2021 6 With leading integration, automation and deployment capabilities, every server is
built to protect and power a wide variety of applications and workloads with ease.
Executing when it matters 9 Storage solutions
Optimise workloads and maximise your storage investments with self-encrypting
Getting buy-in for your tech strategy 12 drives, built-in disaster avoidance and snapshots in each array.
Hyperconverged solutions
Future-proofing digital transformation 15 Simplify operations, scale and keep your data protected at every IT layer with
leading hyperconverged infrastructure solutions from Dell EMC.
Security in a distributed workforce 18
Data protection
With purpose-built secure infrastructure, you’ll be confident that customer data
Plain sailing after the panic? 21 is always secure and that your business is running with maximum efficiency.
Cloud-enabled solutions
Transformative technologies to turn 24
Dell Technologies hybrid cloud management enables a flexible response to
your plans into results business needs, putting you in a position to compete and differentiate.
Next steps 25
Find out more about Dell Technologies Mid-Market Solutions.
24/26 Guiding mid-sized businesses through changeNext steps
Forward 2 Listening to the podcasts that form the basis of this eBook, I’ve been impressed with the
resilience and resourcefulness of our mid-sized customers here in the U.K.
The freedom to think big 3
I’ve also been impressed at the way our teams continue to respond to change to ensure that our
customers have everything they need to thrive in unpredictable circumstances. This doesn’t just
Threatscape 2021 6 mean providing hardware, but being a proactive partner and spotting our customers’ business
challenges before they become major issues.
Executing when it matters 9
We are continuing to evolve our solutions to meet the changing needs of mid-sized businesses.
For instance, flexible payment options and new consumption models to ease pressure on your
Getting buy-in for your tech strategy 12 budgets. Plus, solutions that improve remote working for your employees and security products
that keep your business and data safe.
Future-proofing digital transformation 15 Whatever new challenges you’re facing right now, we’ll be there to help you survive and thrive.
Security in a distributed workforce 18 To find out more, contact your Dell Technologies representative or visit our mid-market homepage.
And you can hear all episodes of the podcast on Dell Technologies, Spotify, Apple Podcasts,
Plain sailing after the panic? 21 Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Podcast Addict, Podchaser, or Podcast Index.
Transformative technologies to turn 24
your plans into results
John Gunning
Next steps 25 Vice President & GM, UK Mid Market
25/26 Guiding mid-sized businesses through changeInnovation
Built-in
26/26 Guiding mid-sized businesses through changeYou can also read
