Por: Joaquim Campos, IBM Latin America Technology Leader

Adapting quickly to the needs caused by the pandemic has been the great challenge for companies in 2020. The level of preparation and technological maturity were crucial to keep their employees working remotely and their clients well served during months of restrictions and social distance . Undoubtedly, those who were already prepared for the coming disruption came forward, even without knowing what would come.

In the CEO Study 2021 of the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV), CEOs from Latin America, including Chile, revealed that Technology infrastructure (44%), workforce management “anywhere” (38%), Cyber risks and regulation (37%) are the top elements that may represent the biggest challenges for your organizations in the next 2-3 years. Today, a year after the start of the pandemic, three fronts emerge as the needs of all companies to emerge stronger in the digital century: technology, trust and talent.

1) Technology to scale businesses and personalize relationships. Over the past year, we have seen an acceleration of digital transformation. The widespread increase in remote business and interactions has led to hyper digitization in companies that are faced with the need to accelerate the use of technology in business processes, in order to manage their operations with agility and provide new experiences to customers. So technology has been at the fore, following the path of organizational transformation, and now we are entering an era in which computing can, and should, happen anywhere, from data centers to public clouds and even the edge of the net. This is what allows companies to have flexibility and to be able to scale quickly according to their needs and demands. This world is possible thanks to the hybrid cloud. Companies of all sizes and sectors, such as Entel Corporaciones, in Chile, Banco Sabadell in Mexico, Efectiva Financiera in Peru, and Santander in Uruguay, are some of the companies with successful experiences in putting this trend into practice.

Additionally, 21% of Latin American companies already use AI and 43% of IT professionals in the region report that their company intensified its use during the Covid-19 * pandemic. Artificial intelligence is helping companies transform services and create new experiences for customers, citizens and employees who, after the pandemic, changed the way they consume to be more digital.

2) Trust and privacy in a hyper-digitized world. As we intensify the use of AI, eyes are turning to the trustworthiness of the generated data. According to newly commissioned market research announced at Think 2021, nearly 90% of companies using AI comment that their ability to explain how AI arrived at a decision is critical. In addition to trust, companies must be sure that their data and knowledge are theirs and will not be used or accessed without authorization.

Furthermore, according to IBM's security report published in February 2021, cyberattacks evolved in 2020 as threat actors sought to profit from the unprecedented socio-economic, business and political challenges caused. ​​for the COVID-19 pandemic. As digitalization and remote interactions increase, companies also need more security to protect their businesses from threats and manage risk and compliance.

3) Talent and the challenge of a workforce anywhere The explosion of data and the increasing use of AI and automation technologies by companies were already transforming the job market, even before the pandemic, requiring companies to adapt by reconversion of their workforce and the empowerment of new talents. The new massive model of distance learning and work generated by the pandemic has accelerated this process.

62% of Latin American CEOs ** indicated that the empowerment of the remote workforce has become a very important or extremely important factor since 2020. In this sense, companies such as Burger King Brasil They have already shown good results with the use of artificial intelligence to improve communication and service to the 16,000 employees in 800 restaurants, mainly during the pandemic.

The changes and uncertainties caused by the atypical year we had reinforce the importance of applying exponential technologies to create and improve relationships with employees, customers, partners and produce more efficient, effective and flexible processes in a reliable and safe environment anywhere. We know that there is no magic combination to prepare for disruption, but investing in technology, trust and talent will be the key entry for companies to the digital century.