There’s more to digital transformation than the technological aspect of it -- this is what business leaders highlighted at this year’s Leadership Innovation (Lead-In) forum, Globe Business’ flagship enterprise convention which was hosted virtually for the first time since its inception more than ten years ago.
Gathering more than 850 company leaders and executives, Lead-In 2020 banked on the theme 'Forward & Fearless: A Path Towards Braver Tomorrow' to encourage businesses across the Philippines to take that courageous leap into their own digital revolution to achieve resilience especially during unprecedented changes that affect various industries.
Addressing the attendees of the online conference, Globe Business Senior Vice President Peter Maquera said that “frequent, severe, and far-reaching disruptions” have been and will remain present in the business industry even after the pandemic is over.
“If you think so much about digitalizing, not so much in the technology sense but in terms of its characteristics -- fast, easy, convenient, personalized, always-on, on-demand, interconnected, secure, ubiquitous, you realize you have to be digital because customers expect to interact with you in this manner. We have to think more broadly beyond just ourselves being digital. But also our end-to-end value chains and ecosystems,” Maquera said.
This year’s Lead-In keynote speaker, Edward W. Carter Professor of Business Administration and Co-chair of Driving Digital Strategy at the Harvard Business School Sunil Gupta underscored how addressing the shift in the behavior of both consumers and business organizations is an important facet of virtualization amid today's crisis.
"This crisis, if anything, has accelerated digital transformation. This is the time when consumers, as well as organizations, are beginning to question the way they do business, and we are seeing amazing changes in their behavior," Gupta noted.
"This is a great time for all of you who are already in this journey of transformation to accelerate that process, whether it's online shopping, telemedicine, or online learning," he added.
Digitally-driven cultural shift
For businesses to fully embrace digital transformation, there has to be a change in the culture and the mindset of the entire organization. Unionbank of the Philippines President and CEO Edwin Bautista emphasized that this means no one gets left behind.
“The first thing that you really need to do is to build an organization that is willing to unlearn the things that used to work. Those who constantly refer to best practices in the past risk getting stuck. Best practices are mostly outside one’s industry.,” Bautista said.
Bautista shared that, for Unionbank, this didn't only result in the firm meeting best practices for customer satisfaction through groundbreaking products and services but also paved an avenue for the bank to come up with socially-impactful projects.
Unionbank continues to grow as the country’s bank of the future with its digitally-enabled work from home structure and recent 5G-powered initiatives with Globe Business. Bautista further explained during his segment, “Companies must embrace being agile, focus on speed and product deployments, and learn about new technologies. There’s no fixed formula for a successful digital transformation. There’s no precise way of preparing for change. What matters is that businesses navigate from point to point. No one must get left behind.”
Empowering people through virtualization
Sharing the same proposition that digital transformation is not just about the tools but more on empowering people to achieve a common goal while working from home, Christian Besler, Chief Digital Officer of AC Health shared how their company was able to develop and implement a free-for-all online health platform dubbed as the HealthNow app without conducting any physical meetings.
"It's not always about technology. A lot of it has to do with a shift in mindset. Company cultures need to change. Businesses must realize that successful digital transformation is culture founded on technology,” Besler said.
“Will people really respond to our shift to digital? They respond when change has a positive impact on them. Companies have to define their goals and adapt like startups because digital platforms will be here to stay,” he added, encouraging business leaders to promote a culture of trust that gives employees a safe space to experiment as they adjust to hybrid work arrangements.
HealthNow, a joint venture of AC Health, the health arm of Ayala Corporation, and 917 Ventures, the incubator arm of Globe, provides telehealth assistance to Filipinos via a one-stop mobile application where they can schedule one-on-one virtual appointments and medical checkups with professional doctors, and buy medicines and other medical needs. This is a timely innovation given the need for easy access to healthcare amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Towards a braver tomorrow
A long-standing advocate of digital transformation in the Philippines, Globe Business continues to support enterprises with digital solutions that recreate resilience via Cloud Solutions; secure business outcomes using cybersecurity; establish first-world connectivity, and inspire collaboration through a growing list of remarkable business applications.
Embark on a courageous digital journey and future-proof your enterprise systems and processes with Globe Business. Contact your Account Manager or visit https://www.globe.com.ph/business/enterprise.html for more information.