Latin America. Latin America is a region that is growing despite the various global economic problems that resulted from the fall in oil prices, from which a significant number of economies in the region obtain income to spend on their respective budgets.
One issue within the budgetary adjustments that occupy governments, especially those of developing nations, is that of spending. Where to direct investment in strategic infrastructure?, key questions on which economic growth and development depend.
A transcendental economic scoop that is a constant in emerging countries indicates that the higher the level of investment, the higher the level of development.
The technology consultancy ReportsnReports, published results of an analysis of the market and demand in storage 2015 – 2019, of which it concludes, will revolve around Cloud Computing. In the specific area of IT spending, Gartner forecasts growth in IT spending of 2.4%, adjusted for forecasts for the sale of telecommunications devices and services.
The data center market, on the other hand, will reach $143 billion this year, representing an increase of 1.8% over 2014. This market research firm signaled growth in enterprise networking and communication applications. In the enterprise software market, Gartner forecasts an expenditure of 335 billion dollars, 5.5% more than in 2014. In 2015
Gartner's forecast for the IT services market in 2015 has been reduced to 2.5% growth, compared to the 4.1% previously forecast.
As for spending on telecommunications services, it is expected to grow by 0.7% in 2015, to 1.6 trillion.
Talking about investing in IT, is still for some organizations synonymous with disbursing billions of dollars in technological equipment, which in addition to not understanding its operation to the letter, will be in charge of engineers and IT managers absorbed in the engineering work that is already known in any organization.
The clearest example of why investment in IT is an issue that cannot be postponed can be seen just by going out on the street. The number of mobile devices connected to mobile operator networks and within Wi-Fi networks in homes and organizations (BYOD), a practice accepted in a growing number of businesses and organizations.
Here Gartner predicts that by 2017, half of all employers will require their workers to bring their own devices to work. If it is based on statistical data and proven methodologies that in turn become predictions over time, what do organizations expect in identifying their digital footprint and attending to it in time?
Investment analysis
The issue of investment requires an in-depth analysis of the structure of an organization. Know what it is composed of, identify the differentiators and exploit them. The approach must consider and involve all the links that make up the chain. Diversification to identify patterns and strengthen, much more than generalizing values or simply repeating according to the past, a dangerous and expensive practice.
Identifying the various members that make up an organization, from the management team, through sales, commercial, customer service, marketing, etc., will help not only to pursue what is traditionally sought, but to give life and evaluate a living entity that produces business intelligence while operating more efficiently for the market in which it competes.
Decisions regarding information technology traditionally fall on technology directors, from whom managers, managers, managers and other positions closely related to engineering processes are derived, who sometimes only know the Core of the business, but are not aware of the business processes that depend on IT decisions that in turn, derive from the investment made or about to be made.
In this sense, the CIO plays a preponderant role, given that they are executives who ideally and under the revealing data of investment in IT in the global economic conditions that the region is going through, should be involved with the areas that leverage the growth of organizations: sales, marketing, customer service / channels. It is necessary to pay special attention to a key element that differentiates businesses that grow to improve and those that do not control their growth: Measurement.
Measuring is key to identifying an organization's weaknesses with a view to resolving them on time and staying competitive. Without measurement parameters, the objectives set by the management will hardly be achieved. Latin America must learn to measure and involve information technologies more precisely and strategically; the investment must be focused not only on what is traditionally such as software and hardware, but on developing talent, skill and constant training to enter as the first in any of the productive sectors in which it competes.
Latin America must put aside resistance to change, as well as stop seeing concepts such as virtualization, Business Analytics, Cloud Computing or Software as a Service as distant. In an interrelated global economy dependent on many other local ones, this type of knowledge should not be alien to the new generations of professionals in marketing, sales, services and customer service.
Text written by Carlos Perea, Vice President of Sales for Latin America Extreme Networks
