LATAM companies are committed to emerging technologies to increase productivity and reinvent processes

The use of emerging technologies in Latin American companies has increased in recent years, since they see in them a ally to increase productivityad and reinvent processes, which encourages the growth and permanence of companies.

For these companies, digital transformation has changed from “let’s wait” to “let’s try it”, as they have realized the potential it has for their businesses. In fact 90% of companies will increase their investment in emerging technologies in the next 12 months, as revealed by the study “Promoting the adoption of emerging technologies in Latin America”, carried out by Harvard Business Review Analytics Services and NTT DATA.

In addition, 73% of companies expect have a return on investment in two years and 36% say it will take just a year or less, indicating a high level of confidence in emerging technologies.

The survey carried out on 316 executives from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Mexico, highlights that the most used technology is edge computing (edge computing), with 65%, biometrics with 63%, robotics with 60% e Artificial intelligence with 54 percent.

This, according to Alberto Otero, Head of Americas Digital Technology, NTT DATA, is due, to a large extent, to the need to increase productivity in companies.

Benefits and objectives

The main objectives of companies to use this type of technology is increase efficiency and productivityimprove the customer experience and completely reinvent processes or business models

“The main benefits that companies have told us is the cost reduction labor (50%), greater efficiency in manufacturing or production (46%), improvement in business processes and faster decision-making (40%), finally the improvement in the reputation of the brand that also has 40 pro hundred.

Otero says thatdge computing It is one of the most used technologies, because it allows obtain and process data from the periphery, for example in a manufacturing company, what happens in the factory can be observed through smart cameras, which allow workers to see if workers get too close to a vehicle and take actions in real time

With the use of robotics it is possible to move packages automatically in a warehouse, another example is the use of Artificial Intelligence in the Chilean airline LATAM Airlines, which is implemented to estimate the weight of the plane and calculate the gasolinemaking the flight more efficient.

Obstacles

However, companies face obstacles such as talent shortageThis is what 73% of companies say, since it is an impediment to the effective adoption of technology because there are not people with adequate knowledge, lack of experience, and some resist change.

Likewise, Otero says that Latin American companies compete for talent with developed countriesbecause the collaborators who are hired by these companies do not need to move and they charge in another currency

In this regard, the companies work to improve the attraction of talent, “influencing compensation and remote work, carrying out change management with a lot of communication so that employees understand the value that the use of technology can bring them. Also retraining and fostering collaboration.”

On the other hand, in terms of leadership, the areas of Tinformation technology they continue to be key in identifying the solutions that best fit the strategic objectives of the organization. In 65% of the companies the decision of the projects passes through the hands of the c-level executives from that area.

However, the involvement of the highest-ranking executives, such as presidents, CEOs and general directors, is growing, and it already reaches almost half of the cases.