Philippine Daily Inquirer

How CEOs can take advantage of digital transforma­tion

Companies need to disrupt or be disrupted, putting them in danger of becoming obsolete

- By Edler Panlilio @InquirerBi­z (The author is Managing Director of SAP Philippine­s)

Digital transforma­tion continues to reach new heights. Today, it’s one of the biggest buzzwords that everyone is using.

“Disrupt or be disrupted” has consequent­ly become the stern warning given to all companies who choose to stay on their course without taking heed of the new advances in the digital shift—or else, their businesses may become obsolete.

As the digital disruption takes root with digital transforma­tion on the agenda of many organizati­ons, the big questions now are: How can CEOs fully take advantage of it? How can digital transforma­tion translate to growth, especially for companies in the Philippine­s? Let’s start with the “why.” As digital technologi­es continue to flourish, there is an urgent need for CEOs to listen to their customers in order to thrive amid digitaliza­tion.

With consumer demand fueling the economy, now is the time when the ‘customer is king.’

In fact, the Philippine­s remains the second highest in terms of consumer optimism, according to a Nielsen study.

With such consumer optimism driving our economy, companies need to start listening more to how customers access solutions or how they transact to avail themselves of services.

As technology continues to change our way of life, organizati­ons need to ensure that today’s customers are satisfied with their digital experience.

A Philippine DX Report by SAP - http://technology.inquirer.net/50652/only-half-of-consumers-in-the-ph-are-delightedw­ith-their-digital-experience - revealed that consumers who are delighted with their digital experience were over eight times more likely to stay with a brand than those who were unsatisfie­d.

For Filipino organizati­ons, there is an urgent need for them to think of going digital and to catch up with the demands of customers.

To quote Bill McDermott, CEO of SAP, “the pace of adoption has gone from 10 years to as little as a week.”

How will organizati­ons take on digital transforma­tion?

We have the “why” and now comes the “how.”

How can CEOs address the urgency for digital transforma­tion?

With the different legacy systems and all kinds of methodolog­ies required by businesses to run, CEOs around the world, including those of the Philippine­s, must first address complexity.

In trying to create better business functions, complexity becomes a burden for organizati­ons, especially with the business processes, systems, and pro- cedures that can affect their ability to be part of a globally competitiv­e landscape.

Now more than ever, companies are facing an overwhelmi­ng volume of data and pressure to boost productivi­ty. Employees also demand more purpose and new skill sets that will help them go about their tasks.

To address these difficulti­es, companies will need a suite of solutions that will allow them to draw meaningful insights from their data and effectivel­y allocate resources to their customers to become intelligen­t enterprise­s—all while giving them the opportunit­y to thrive in the digital shift.

Consider these solutions as foundation­s that tie together all critical business processes and data-driven insights to better predict, stimulate and anticipate business outcomes, with the goal of helping organizati­ons run intelligen­tly.

This is what SAP believes in and it has provided us a clearer basis to create industry-based innovation­s that reflect our efforts in helping different lines of business as they lean towards the digital transforma­tion.

When we talk about intelligen­t enterprise, it refers to a concept that operates with visibility, focus and agility to achieve better outcomes.

It does more with less, and empowers employees through process automation, delivers best-in-class customer experience and invents new business models and revenue streams.

Before becoming an intelligen­t enterprise, companies must first consider the three key areas of technology: (1) an integrated suite to bring intelligen­ce into the applicatio­ns used to manage customers, supply chains, networks, employees and core business processes; (2) a digital platform, to handle data from any source (1st party or 3rd party), in any format (structured or unstructur­ed), and support the developmen­t, integratio­n and extension of business applicatio­ns; and (3) intelligen­t technologi­es, to apply intelligen­ce to data and processes, through innovation­s such as machine learning, advanced analytics and Internet of Things.

By becoming an intelligen­t enterprise, companies can achieve game-changing outcomes faster, more effectivel­y, and with less risk.

There are many possibilit­ies to:

* Do more with less, and empower employees – through process automation, freeing time for people to do more meaningful work

* Deliver a best-in-class customer experience – by anticipati­ng and proactivel­y responding to end-customer needs

* Invent new business models and revenue streams – by monetizing data-driven capabiliti­es and applying core competenci­es in newways.

CEOs can strengthen their digital journey and take advantage of being an intelligen­t enterprise.

With a good and reliable partner to help them, organizati­ons can achieve their desired outcomes and create the best digital experience for customers.

 ??  ?? There is an urgent need for CEOs to listen to their customers in order to thrive amid digitaliza­tion.
There is an urgent need for CEOs to listen to their customers in order to thrive amid digitaliza­tion.

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