Digital enterprise transformation in 2016: accelerating the accelerated

Digital enterprise transformation in 2016: accelerating the accelerated

CommunicAsia2016 Summit speaker, Manik Narayan Saha, Chief Information Officer, Asia Pacific and Japan for SAP, shares his predictions and imperatives for the enterprise technology industry in 2016

Asia Pacific is swiftly becoming the ‘frontline for the Internet of Things (IoT)’[1] with 8.6 billion connected devices and a robust digitalinfrastructure. Most countries in the region are actively implementing digital initiatives so as to transform their nations into smart economies.While this presents innumerable opportunities for businesses to tap on, it is vital for companies to leverage technology and innovate faster, in order to keep up with the rapid adoption of all things digital.

IDC predicted that by 2017, 60 percent of the APAC top 1000 enterprises will have digital transformation at the centre of their corporate strategy.[2] Manik Narayan Saha, Chief Information Officer (CIO), Asia Pacific and Japan for SAP shares three must-haves to enable businesses on their digital transformation journey in 2016:

At the very core of businesses, today’s digital era lies the opportunity to evolve into what we call a ‘live enterprise’. From enhanced seamless and personalised customer experiences, to a more engaged workforce and supply chain, a ‘live enterprise’ essentially predicts and acts with the future in mind, rather than solely reporting the past. This means incorporating agile business processes and possessing the ability to masscustomise everything for every single consumer. It also is the ability to connect each colleague and asset to a single, intelligent and digital core system – one that can anticipate, simulate and innovate new opportunities on the fly.

“With one of the youngest workforces in the world, the Asia Pacific region is in the best position to use these technologies effectively in their businesses. However, a region as diverse as Asia characterised by emerging and developed markets, not all infrastructures are fully developed and thus potentially slowing down growth. This is where collaboration between the private and public sectors, together with live insights and technologies, will determine the pace and success of digital transformation across markets,” says Saha.

Beyond adoption approach and collaboration, digital transformation and development of live enterprises have to drive from within theorganisations. “We have seen that the digital transformation can be driven either by the CIO or by the newly defined roles of a Chief Digital Officer (CDO) or a Chief Experience Officer (CXO). What is most essential is that driving the digital core needs capabilities and skills beyond the traditional IT practice, and business savviness is a critical success factor,” Saha adds. For a truly flexible and effective system, the leadership has to adapt practices such as agile, bi-modal IT that can accelerate the time to value and provide a bridge between the desired outcomes and tools that could be used.

Digital Business Networks will become the platform of choice for transactions and commerce. In this marketplace, the responsibility to orchestrate the process into one which is seamless and integrated inevitably becomes the challenge. Just think about how social networks have changed day to day behaviour for individuals. Now take that concept, and apply it to the way businesses work together to deliver their products and services.

Digital Business Networks will become a new gateway to the global consumer, and the collaboration between government agencies, multinationals, startups and entrepreneurs will determine the pace and success of its adoption. Here are three tips for businesses to successfully foray into their digital transformation:

The Global State of Information Security Survey 2016 revealed that companies are becoming increasingly alert to cyber threats. 10 years ago, information security was largely seen as an IT topic. However, with digital becoming part of our everyday lives and implications of data losses critical, concerns have been elevated to the boardroom. In the future, when virtually everything can be connected to the Internet, we have torecognize the security statement: Everything that can be connected to the Internet can potentially be hacked. With Big Data – ranging from customer information, financial transactions, employee records to social media feedback, companies need to look at more effective ways tosecure, store, and track the vast amounts of data that will be generated.

The future of cyber security lies in combining solutions for pattern-based recognition of security breaches and ability to correlate large volumes of current runtime data, including network activity. For example, there are solutions that focus on identifying external attacks as they are happening. The solution’s pattern recognition functionality filters out anomalies such as suspicious discrepancies between a user’s past and current behavior – perhaps as the result of a hacking attack.

What is promising is that the same global security survey showed that enterprises are becoming increasingly convinced of the value of data-driven analysis to protect their businesses.

The key is picking a comprehensive suite of products and services which allow businesses to embark on a successful digital journey thatbrings all the participants solutions aimed at delivering a profitable, seamless and integrated experience. It is intelligent strategy, not solely technology that drives digital transformation.

For more insights on how your business can leverage smart technologies to meet the demands of the highly complex digital world, join ManikNarayan Saha, Chief Information Officer, Asia Pacific and Japan for SAP at the CommunicAsia2016 Summit.