Dell EMC cites industries lagging behind digital transformation

By Zsarlene B. Chua
Reporter

WHILE many industries have started or in various stages of digitally transforming their businesses, there are several who resist (or are slow to adopt) said transformation, according to a Dell EMC regional executive.

“The group of people or organizations who are not as fast in adopting or transforming are those highly regulated [as] they have various guidelines and laws that prevent them from doing so,” Pang Yee Beng, SVP for commercial business (South Asia & Korea) at Dell EMC, told the media during a press conference on the sidelines of the Dell EMC Forum 2017 on Sept. 26 held in Shangri-La at the Fort, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City.

He added that monopolies also take a longer time transforming their businesses.

Though, he explained, that once these organizations have successfully gone past these regulatory bodies and laws, the speed at which they transform digitally will be explosive.

“Japan, for example, is very traditional. It took them a long time for them to allow cloud infrastructure because of concerns about security but once their regulators [allowed it] all of a sudden we saw the boom,” he explained.

Digital Transformation in a nutshell is “the profound transformation of business and organizational activities, processes, competencies and models to fully leverage the changes and opportunities of a mix of digital technologies and their accelerating impact across society in a strategic and prioritized way, with present and future shifts in mind,” as defined by digital publication, i-scoop.eu.

“People have been working alongside machines for decades and we are seeing fast adoption of the emerging technologies such as VR, Cloud and AI, enabling an evolution in the relationship and dynamic between humans and machines,” Mr. Beng said in a company press release.

“This partnership is a symbiotic one, with machines bringing speed, automation and improved efficiency and humans providing judgment, creativity and problem-solving capabilities,” he said of the opportunities afforded by digital transformation.

Locally, according to Dindo Marzan, managing director of Hatch (the digital transformation group of Voyager Innovations, Inc.), the hospital industry seems most resistant to change.

“In the Philippines, the hospital industry is having difficulties transforming because of highly regulated processes and when it comes to data, data about patients are very sensitive… they’re very traditional about that so there’s a notion of maybe [sensitive patient] data will be shared to someone who’s not supposed to see it,” Mr. Marzan said.

During the press conference, Mr. Beng highlighted the importance of taking the steps towards securing organizations’ “digital future in the new digital transformation era.”

“The new digital era today is really the next industrial revolution where data becomes the main driver. This ruthlessly redraws the business landscape in the Philippines. Yet, the monumental change is rich with opportunities,” Ronnie Latinazo, country general manager of Dell EMC Philippines, in the press release.

On the flipside, Mr. Latinazo said organizations in the telecommunications, financial services, utilities, logistics, retail and gaming sectors can be called early adopters as they are putting into place measures to transform their businesses digitally.