SAP: Digital transformation will be crucial to surviving in a post-COVID-19 world
- Businesses must innovate and transform to be competitive against post-COVID-19 disruption
- SAP survey reveals 40% of businesses currently adopting a “wait and see” approach while hoping for resumption of previous normalcy
- Transiting to become intelligent enterprises is critical to inventing new business models and revenue streams
SAP has shared the results of its poll of 4,500 Southeast Asian business leaders, revealing the extent of COVID-19’s impact on businesses across the region, and concerns about long-term prospects.
Unveiled at the inaugural SAP Forward Together virtual event on the new reality of businesses, the survey revealed that 40% of the businesses polled are still adopting a “wait and see” approach in response to the pandemic. Such a response is likely to backfire, SAP said.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the world economy going through a period of ‘reset’ for the ‘rebound’. The race for competitiveness has already started again, and countries that sprint forward now will leave others trailing behind,” said Rachel Barger, President & MD, SAP South East Asia.
“For countries and companies that are complacent with a ‘wait and see’ attitude, they would be left behind – and may even become ‘irrelevant’. As businesses recalibrate their strategies for the long-term, it is crucial to shift away from an expectation to revert to normalcy as before. In a new reality, intelligent enterprises can ‘do more with less’, deliver best-in-class customer experience, build resilient supply chains, while inventing new business models and revenue streams.”
The majority of regional business leaders (63%) surveyed have already seen changes in customers’ purchasing behaviour and motivations since the start of 2020, although 21% of businesses are unsure or lack insight on changes in their customer’s needs, SAP said.
Winning companies, which made up 14% of businesses polled, are those that transform through innovation, particularly in a digitally-disruptive world that has been compounded by COVID-19. Barger observed that these leaders did not abandon their long-term plans, but reviewed them in the context of the current situation; decided which key programmes were relevant, and focused on people, such as listening to feedback and concerns from employees, suppliers, and customers. They also saw an opportunity to drive large-scale transformation, not just focusing on the now but also flexibility for the future, she said.
Amidst this shift, SAP found that some organisations are still moving conservatively with their digital transformation efforts. These organisations still have the mindset that disruption from COVID-19 will pass in due course, or invest in random activities and piecemeal solutions, Barger noted.
Although businesses have pivoted their operations towards e-commerce and online selling, smaller businesses still worry over implementation costs of digital platforms and juggling operations to meet the sudden influx of demand. Around 20% of businesses foresee a need to adapt their customer experience strategies to meet evolving expectations and needs of customers across platforms.
Supply chain and operations are also other aspects that businesses are keeping a close watch on, with 22% of businesses expecting significant change in the future. Alongside changing customer consumption patterns, supply chains have shifted in the wake of safe-distancing measures of lockdowns, leading to a 'stop-go pattern' in business-to-business operations. Stop-go refers to periods of inactivity interspersed with bursts of activity.
As businesses make sense of the new post-pandemic economic reality, worries and uncertainty over the long-term prospects of growth and survivability has emerged as the foremost concern. Over 80% of regional businesses leaders surveyed expect significant/massive impact to change their business model or operations, with just 1% expecting “business-as-usual” in the long run.
With business-as-usual no longer an option, regional business leaders are adjusting organisational priorities with a focus on business transformation (21%), enhancing customer engagement (15%), making business processes more efficient (14%), ensuring business continuity (12%), and supply chain resilience and redefinition (9%).
According to the Boston Consulting Group, high-performing companies who successfully tackled crises and major economic downturns demonstrate a similar pattern, that have allowed them to emerge as winners during and after past recessions. High-performing companies who managed to improve their top-line and bottom-line positions adopt a proactive approach, using the downturn as an opportunity to drive large-scale transformation like digitalisation.
Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, the drivers of technology were focused on cost reduction and productivity, SAP said. The goal was to make well-run businesses run better. In the COVID-19 era, the roles of technology will have to evolve to:
- Achieve resiliency: to steer companies through challenging times with agility
- Deliver profitability: with transparency across both the top and bottom line, supporting business growth and increased productivity and
- Act sustainably: by reducing carbon footprints, minimising waste and transitioning to the circular economy. Circular economies recycle materials and minimise waste.
SAP also reaffirmed its goal to help Southeast Asian businesses innovate and transform to elevate their competitiveness in a post-COVID-19 world. Advice from SAP to move from decisions that take months and years to decisions that take days and weeks included:
- Implement intelligent technologies to provide real-time visibility into the availability of raw materials, people and assets.
- Use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to constantly reassess and re-plan activities. AI and ML enables organisations to identify high-risk areas, as well as where opportunities might lie.
- Robotic process automation (RPA) can also be leveraged to automate labour-intensive activities, and focus workers on more value-added and impactful activities.
Barger added that customer-centric channels for interaction are important, citing the case of a UK-based food supplier of restaurants which had to pivot to offer consumers its supplies online when restaurants were closed during a COVID-19 lockdown. "Brakes continued to succeed even though its customers were impacted by the downturn," she said.
In another anecdote, Barger talked about SAP Qualtrics customer jetBlue Airways, which used data-driven insights to determine that a 6am flight always scored low on customer satisfaction. This was not because of the route or the crew, but because all the food outlets at the airport were closed at the time. By offering free coffee to all passengers, jetBlue was able to differentiate its brand and raise customer satisfaction, Barger said.
Mavin Group of Vietnam, an agribusiness, exemplified how connecting up the operations and the supply chain led to a better customer experience. The company moved from using paper and spreadsheets to manage a complex business to digital transformation that gave it more visibility on costs and profits. The result was more accurate forecasting based on a single, consistent source of data and the ability to generate scenarios for planning.
"(Mavin) realised that digitisation was critical to meet customer expectations," she commented.
In streamlining expenditure, she noted that leaders do not just cut costs. They also spend strategically. Case in point is Singapore-based Keppel Infrastructure, which deals in energy and environmental infrastructure. The company used multiple systems to procure goods and services and had too many suppliers offering the same goods and services, she said. By consolidating the supply base, Keppel Infrastructure was able to build deeper relationships with a core group of suppliers and offer self-service procurement to employees. This led to faster supplier onboarding, and more time for employees to work strategically.
She also asked organisations to keep human capital top-of-mind. "Tap into the unique insights of employees," she said.
"Listen to the feedback from the frontlines...especially in times of crisis, we need to make sure that their needs are accounted for and that they feel safe to do their jobs. There is no better way to understand your employees' needs than to ask them."
SAP is helping in other ways as well. The company is providing free access to SAP Ariba Discovery, the world’s largest business network, until December 31, 2020. Through the platform, any buyer can post their immediate sourcing needs and any supplier can respond to show they can deliver.
Free access to Qualtrics Remote Work Pulse has also helped organisations understand how their employees are doing and what support they need as they adapt to new work environments.
Additionally, businesses can also access the SAP Value Lifecycle Manager, an industry benchmark tool that supports businesses to measure, monitor and optimise value across their enterprise.
The SAP Experience Center Singapore further provides deep dives into technologies like AI, big data and data intelligence in the cloud and helps to develop solutions tailored to an organisation’s unique challenges.
Details:
See how SAP is supporting business continuity
- SAP survey reveals 40% of businesses currently adopting a “wait and see” approach while hoping for resumption of previous normalcy
- Transiting to become intelligent enterprises is critical to inventing new business models and revenue streams
SAP has shared the results of its poll of 4,500 Southeast Asian business leaders, revealing the extent of COVID-19’s impact on businesses across the region, and concerns about long-term prospects.
 |
| During her opening keynote at SAP Forward Together, Barger distilled the survey findings about the 14% of companies which improved their top and bottom lines during the downturn into six practical business strategies: seek and understand (situational analysis), organisational wellbeing (employee focus), focus on the customer (customer experience), manage resources (supply chain management) and streamline spend (spend management). |
Unveiled at the inaugural SAP Forward Together virtual event on the new reality of businesses, the survey revealed that 40% of the businesses polled are still adopting a “wait and see” approach in response to the pandemic. Such a response is likely to backfire, SAP said.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the world economy going through a period of ‘reset’ for the ‘rebound’. The race for competitiveness has already started again, and countries that sprint forward now will leave others trailing behind,” said Rachel Barger, President & MD, SAP South East Asia.
“For countries and companies that are complacent with a ‘wait and see’ attitude, they would be left behind – and may even become ‘irrelevant’. As businesses recalibrate their strategies for the long-term, it is crucial to shift away from an expectation to revert to normalcy as before. In a new reality, intelligent enterprises can ‘do more with less’, deliver best-in-class customer experience, build resilient supply chains, while inventing new business models and revenue streams.”
The majority of regional business leaders (63%) surveyed have already seen changes in customers’ purchasing behaviour and motivations since the start of 2020, although 21% of businesses are unsure or lack insight on changes in their customer’s needs, SAP said.
Winning companies, which made up 14% of businesses polled, are those that transform through innovation, particularly in a digitally-disruptive world that has been compounded by COVID-19. Barger observed that these leaders did not abandon their long-term plans, but reviewed them in the context of the current situation; decided which key programmes were relevant, and focused on people, such as listening to feedback and concerns from employees, suppliers, and customers. They also saw an opportunity to drive large-scale transformation, not just focusing on the now but also flexibility for the future, she said.
Amidst this shift, SAP found that some organisations are still moving conservatively with their digital transformation efforts. These organisations still have the mindset that disruption from COVID-19 will pass in due course, or invest in random activities and piecemeal solutions, Barger noted.
Although businesses have pivoted their operations towards e-commerce and online selling, smaller businesses still worry over implementation costs of digital platforms and juggling operations to meet the sudden influx of demand. Around 20% of businesses foresee a need to adapt their customer experience strategies to meet evolving expectations and needs of customers across platforms.
Supply chain and operations are also other aspects that businesses are keeping a close watch on, with 22% of businesses expecting significant change in the future. Alongside changing customer consumption patterns, supply chains have shifted in the wake of safe-distancing measures of lockdowns, leading to a 'stop-go pattern' in business-to-business operations. Stop-go refers to periods of inactivity interspersed with bursts of activity.
As businesses make sense of the new post-pandemic economic reality, worries and uncertainty over the long-term prospects of growth and survivability has emerged as the foremost concern. Over 80% of regional businesses leaders surveyed expect significant/massive impact to change their business model or operations, with just 1% expecting “business-as-usual” in the long run.
With business-as-usual no longer an option, regional business leaders are adjusting organisational priorities with a focus on business transformation (21%), enhancing customer engagement (15%), making business processes more efficient (14%), ensuring business continuity (12%), and supply chain resilience and redefinition (9%).
According to the Boston Consulting Group, high-performing companies who successfully tackled crises and major economic downturns demonstrate a similar pattern, that have allowed them to emerge as winners during and after past recessions. High-performing companies who managed to improve their top-line and bottom-line positions adopt a proactive approach, using the downturn as an opportunity to drive large-scale transformation like digitalisation.
Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, the drivers of technology were focused on cost reduction and productivity, SAP said. The goal was to make well-run businesses run better. In the COVID-19 era, the roles of technology will have to evolve to:
- Achieve resiliency: to steer companies through challenging times with agility
- Deliver profitability: with transparency across both the top and bottom line, supporting business growth and increased productivity and
- Act sustainably: by reducing carbon footprints, minimising waste and transitioning to the circular economy. Circular economies recycle materials and minimise waste.
SAP also reaffirmed its goal to help Southeast Asian businesses innovate and transform to elevate their competitiveness in a post-COVID-19 world. Advice from SAP to move from decisions that take months and years to decisions that take days and weeks included:
- Implement intelligent technologies to provide real-time visibility into the availability of raw materials, people and assets.
- Use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to constantly reassess and re-plan activities. AI and ML enables organisations to identify high-risk areas, as well as where opportunities might lie.
- Robotic process automation (RPA) can also be leveraged to automate labour-intensive activities, and focus workers on more value-added and impactful activities.
Barger added that customer-centric channels for interaction are important, citing the case of a UK-based food supplier of restaurants which had to pivot to offer consumers its supplies online when restaurants were closed during a COVID-19 lockdown. "Brakes continued to succeed even though its customers were impacted by the downturn," she said.
In another anecdote, Barger talked about SAP Qualtrics customer jetBlue Airways, which used data-driven insights to determine that a 6am flight always scored low on customer satisfaction. This was not because of the route or the crew, but because all the food outlets at the airport were closed at the time. By offering free coffee to all passengers, jetBlue was able to differentiate its brand and raise customer satisfaction, Barger said.
Mavin Group of Vietnam, an agribusiness, exemplified how connecting up the operations and the supply chain led to a better customer experience. The company moved from using paper and spreadsheets to manage a complex business to digital transformation that gave it more visibility on costs and profits. The result was more accurate forecasting based on a single, consistent source of data and the ability to generate scenarios for planning.
"(Mavin) realised that digitisation was critical to meet customer expectations," she commented.
In streamlining expenditure, she noted that leaders do not just cut costs. They also spend strategically. Case in point is Singapore-based Keppel Infrastructure, which deals in energy and environmental infrastructure. The company used multiple systems to procure goods and services and had too many suppliers offering the same goods and services, she said. By consolidating the supply base, Keppel Infrastructure was able to build deeper relationships with a core group of suppliers and offer self-service procurement to employees. This led to faster supplier onboarding, and more time for employees to work strategically.
She also asked organisations to keep human capital top-of-mind. "Tap into the unique insights of employees," she said.
"Listen to the feedback from the frontlines...especially in times of crisis, we need to make sure that their needs are accounted for and that they feel safe to do their jobs. There is no better way to understand your employees' needs than to ask them."
SAP is helping in other ways as well. The company is providing free access to SAP Ariba Discovery, the world’s largest business network, until December 31, 2020. Through the platform, any buyer can post their immediate sourcing needs and any supplier can respond to show they can deliver.
Free access to Qualtrics Remote Work Pulse has also helped organisations understand how their employees are doing and what support they need as they adapt to new work environments.
Additionally, businesses can also access the SAP Value Lifecycle Manager, an industry benchmark tool that supports businesses to measure, monitor and optimise value across their enterprise.
The SAP Experience Center Singapore further provides deep dives into technologies like AI, big data and data intelligence in the cloud and helps to develop solutions tailored to an organisation’s unique challenges.
Details:
See how SAP is supporting business continuity
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