By Riera U. Mallari
Dell Technologies Philippines Country Manager Ronnie Latinazo on Wednesday told vendors and the tech community gathered in the CXO Innovation Summit 2022 at the Shangri-La Resort in Boracay that businesses regard people as their greatest asset for driving transformation projects.
“People are our most important asset. It is a requirement for us to put attention on people,” said Latinazo during the second day of the four-day tech conference organized by leading ICT distributor VST ECS Philippines Inc.
Reporting on the Dell Technologies Breakthrough Report of 2022, which surveyed 10,500 respondents from 40+ countries, Latinazo said that 96 of business leaders in the Philippines (85 percent worldwide) regard their employees as their greatest asset.
“There is an innovator in all of us, not just a select few. Moreover, respondents recognize
that technology holds the key to progress, and when technology and human ingenuity are aligned, they can have a powerful transformative effect,” the Dell report stated.
“We see this in the more than seven in 10 respondents that believe there is always a technological answer to a problem, just waiting to be uncovered. And the 85% of business leaders who believe their people are their “greatest asset”. In the right conditions they see
people as the fuel that drives the company forward.”
Latinazo, however said, there exists a contradiction in the report – a paradox, that however, can be corrected.
“People are the most important asset. However, 67 percent (64 worldwide) of them say, people are the cause of their failure in their digital transformation. Medyo paradox, you’re so important, but at the same time, you find fault in our people,” said Latinazo.
“Two and a half years we were scrambling with collapsed timelines, we were working 9 to 5, we were making calls beyond office hours. For IT, we were working around the clock, making multiple shifts. What’s the effect? People were getting exhausted, 73 percent say they don’t have the motivation,” he added.
“(But) There’s potential to shift employees from being a liability into an asset if we do it right. As leaders and people managers, we need to think through this,” Latinazo continued.
According to the Dell report, “A business will only go as far as their people can take
them. Rather, the key takeaway is to make complex human needs the cornerstone of a transformation strategy.
The Dell study signposts opportunities for businesses to focus and keep pace with transformation, with breakthrough happening at the intersection of people and technology along three frontiers – connectivity, productivity and empathy.