IDC Asia/Pacific revealed last Thursday, 11 winners at the 2020 Asia/Pacific IDC Digital Transformation Awards (DXa) led by Union Bank of the Philippines that won the overall distinction of 2020 Asia/Pacific Digital Trailblazer.UnionBank president and CEO Edwin R. Bautista was also named as the 2020 Asia/Pacific DX CEO.
The IDC Digital Transformation (DX) Awards is held annually to honor remarkable achievements in digital transformation across the Asia-Pacific region. Now on its fourth year, IDC’s DX Awards celebrates the tech-enabled resilience of enterprises as they reimagine their business in the new normal.
The 2020 Asia/Pacific Regional Digital Trailblazer award acknowledges the outstanding achievement among all regional winners across all categories for the excellence in the execution of the nominated projects, experiences, data transformation, operations, and the workforce or workplace.
“UnionBank embraces the future of banking and is committed to be the Philippines’ leading digital bank to best serve the growing needs of Filipinos everywhere. The bank has always been among the first to embrace technological innovations to empower its customers. UnionBank’s digital transformation (DX) strategy reinforced its commitment to deliver a superior customer experience (CX) and promote inclusive prosperity in the Philippines,” IDC said in a statement.
With this distinct recognition, UnionBank joins the ranks of previous regional winners, renowned Changi Airport in Singapore, and Ovo, Indonesia’s leading payment and financial services platform.
“This is truly an honor for our team at UnionBank. We pursued digital transformation in order to survive the winds of disruption. It was a matter of survival. To be honored with the Trailblazer Award is beyond my wildest expectations. I dedicate this award to all UnionBankers who kept the faith in our digital transformation, who believed in what we can achieve together,” Bautista said in his acceptance speech.
Meanwhile, the 2020 Asia/Pacific DX CEO award recognizes the CEO who has developed a comprehensive strategy and vision to create a digitally transformed enterprise. This category focuses on the role of the CEO who uses storytelling as a way to drive purpose and drive direction towards digital transformation throughout the entire organization.
“Edwin R. Bautista is among the few leaders in the Philippines bold enough to transform the organization immediately. When he started as CEO, he made a promise to not leave anyone behind while delivering superior financial results, which is backed by the bank’s two years of record income. He has led the bank’s transformation and shared its success story across Asia. Meanwhile, he is a strong advocate of the use of digital technologies in the country as a key to inclusive prosperity through supporting government initiatives and working with partner organizations. UnionBank’s transformation led by Mr. Bautista has permeated the organization as UnionBankers remain committed to the organization's purpose, predicated on the fact that the world will continue to evolve and transform to leave no one behind,” IDC said.
All the winning digital transformation projects were selected as part of almost 1300 high-quality entries received from more than 640 end-user organizations across Asia/Pacific. Country winners were then pitted against other country winners for the same category to ultimately determine the region’s best of the best.
“Thank you again, IDC, for this prestigious award. I accept it on behalf of UnionBank for it is a recognition of the success of the team's digital transformation journey,” Bautista said in another speech. “For those still thinking of digital transformation, my message is simple—it is not yet too late. But let me give you the same warning we got five years ago: digitize or perish.”