Aboitiz Group’s tech transformation on track

The Aboitiz Group is well on track in its digital transformation journey, thanks to a series of team member-focused initiatives that support the company’s digital pillars.

“Moving forward, our focus will be on transforming the capabilities of our A-People (Aboitiz team members) to become digitally responsive and adaptable to changes. Alongside this, we will promote an innovation mindset that overrides all roadblocks that hold back many organizations from achieving greater things,” said Erramon Aboitiz, Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. (AEV) president and chief executive officer.

Jojo Guingao, AEV chief digital officer, agreed. “In our journey these last three years, we realized that the heart of the transformation is people. With this transformation we asked ourselves – How can we connect people better through digital?” Guingao asked at TransformX: The Aboitiz Way, a tech event focused on the Aboitiz State of Digital and workplace transformation.

TransformX was held recently as part of Aboitiz Innovation Week at the Aboitiz Corporate Center in Bonifacio Global City. In partnership with Workplace by Facebook (a Facebook work tool that enables companies to engage and collaborate), TransformX discussed various workplace communication, and engagement trends especially in today’s agile culture.

According to Guingao, the Aboitiz Group has identified four key areas for its digital transformation: turn businesses into intelligent operations, reinvent business models, advance stakeholder experiences, and create an agile workplace.

Success in these key areas will be defined by the Aboitiz team members through the help of a core Aboitiz value: Innovation.

Bringing to life the Aboitiz digital pillars

“With more than 31,000 team members, connection is a vital component for Aboitiz. We constantly find ways to engage and collaborate regardless of our functions and locations,” Guingao said.

In order to turn its business into an intelligent operation, Aboitiz has adopted – among other initiatives – Robotic Process Automation (RPA), where real-time data on company customer records (unposted payments, post-dated checks and guarantees) are summarized per account and sent directly to sales managers. RPA saves time and enhances relationships with external customers via a more organized collection process.

Aboitiz has also sought to reinvent business models with KINDer, a crowdfunding application featuring various corporate social responsibility advocacies across the country.

Through a few clicks, users may browse through various campaigns, learn more about it, and donate to provide support – similar to what subscription-based streaming service Netflix has done for movies and shows in the past years.

The third digital focus area, advancing stakeholder experiences, is closely linked with the fourth – creating an agile workplace, shares Guingao.

The Aboitiz Innovation Laboratory (a.Lab) represents the Aboitiz Group’s foray into an agile workspace. Designed to be a center for innovation that helps promote collaboration and interaction in an agile work environment, a.Lab features a lounge area, experience corner, digital studio, weather and social media areas, among others unique facilities.