Success factors for companies in a post-pandemic world

The world has changed with Covid-19: it is more competitive, more digital and competition is increasingly global. So what are the critical factors for business success in a post-pandemic world? Check out the reflections of our CEO, Daniel Araújo, in the presentation made during IDC Directions 2021, a forum where Asseco PST was a Gold sponsor.

The formula 'align people, technology and processes around a winning strategy' has not changed in the post-pandemic; what has changed is the way organisations should put it into practice, warned Daniel Araújo, Keynote Speaker on the first day of IDC Directions 2021, one of the events of reference in the IT area in Portugal.

In terms of the People vector, the main challenge today is to attract and retain talent - which was already scarce and where the pandemic has accelerated the shortage, especially in the IT sector. New competitors for Portuguese talent are no longer the national companies or the companies based here: today, there is a large universe of European companies hiring remote workers in Portugal.

In this context, the CEO of Asseco PST defended that it has become critical to invest in staff training, in combining skills, in bringing companies closer to universities (for the opportunities in attracting talent) and in a retention strategy based not only on remuneration, but on the permanent growth of employees. No least important, to empower the workforce, will be finding the right balance between face-to-face and remote work in a future that involves, in many companies, the adoption of a hybrid model.

Regarding Technology and Processes, Daniel Araújo recalled that the pandemic has accentuated the need to take the leap to digital: companies that do not carry out this transformation will increasingly lose relevance in the market and will eventually disappear, being replaced by new digital players.

This transformation process often fails and the problem is not related to a lack of technology, he stressed, adding that there is plenty of technology; very often the problem is placing it at the centre of digital transformation. 'Digital transformation is people, from the bottom to the top of organisations, and transformation processes succeed or fail because of people.'

Finally, in the field of Strategy, our manager highlighted the importance of companies implementing a successful strategy founded on three factors: speed (in creating products, attracting customers, changing processes and reacting to market changes), adaptability and the ability to forge the right alliances (with partners, distributors and even competitors).

Why is all this important? Above all, because technology has lowered the barriers to entry and often competition is no longer only from companies in the sector to which we belong. All the more reason, he concluded, for the added value of belonging to business networks to share knowledge and experiences.

Click here and watch (or review) Daniel Araújo's full performance at IDC Directions 2021.