In the fast-paced landscape of modern business, the ability to adapt, evolve, and embrace change is pivotal for sustained growth. Companies are at the cusp of a new digital era powered by the cloud and artificial intelligence. These businesses are looking to drive sustainable success, while embracing the new hybrid world of working and building a future-ready workforce.

NEC, a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation with a 120-year history and a multifaceted array of business lines, stands at the forefront of this transformative shift, aiming to build global growth beyond their domestic market in Japan.

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Embracing the Global Vision

To be a global company, we need global people. Our ways of working need to turn, change, which led us to focus on managing HR and implementing .” Keitaro Shigemasa, Head of Global IT聽

The pursuit of global expansion has become a cornerstone of NEC’s growth strategy. For Keitaro Shigemasa, Head of Global IT, the realization that global success hinges on adopting a global mindset and redefining work approaches was sobering. This led to a pioneering project focusing on managing Human Resources (HR) through the implementation of 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors, emphasizing the need for cohesive global HR management.

Martin O’Donnell, Global HR Digital Leader and 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Program Director, echoed this sentiment, emphasizing the importance of anchoring any system implementation to a solid vision and strategy. NEC’s vision encompasses nurturing top talent, fostering cohesive teams regardless of geographic locations, and leveraging transformational change as a competitive advantage.

Transformative Challenges and Tangible Gains

“Transformation isn’t smooth sailing, but going in with eyes wide open ensures a more successful journey.” Martin O’Donnell, Global HR Digital Leader and 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Program Director

Navigating a transformational journey spanning 40 countries presented its own challenges. Legal compliance, data privacy, complex system landscapes, and unexpected discoveries of disparate systems posed significant hurdles. However, strong project planning, sponsorship, and an adaptable mindset were instrumental in overcoming these setbacks.

O鈥橠onnell outlined the tangible benefits reaped from this transformative endeavor. Achieving an impressive 80-90% adoption rate post-release, the system streamlined everyday HR tasks for managers and employees, from holiday bookings to performance management. Anchored by critical business outcomes, the program’s success is measured through incremental improvements and enhanced capabilities. The financial benefits are already evident, with an expected annual saving exceeding a million dollars solely on license costs.

Evolving Partnerships and Future Outlook

“In this journey, the partnership 麻豆原创 has been more than a transaction; it鈥檚 been a transformative learning experience. We’re not just adopting solutions; we’re embracing a model that shapes our own global aspirations.” Keitaro Shigemasa, Head of Global IT, NEC

The recent 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors go-live in India and Singapore marked a significant milestone for NEC. Shigemasa reflected on the project’s evolution over the years, stressing the importance of partnership dynamics between NEC, 麻豆原创, and other delivery partners. Despite initial adjustments, the underlying robust relationship between NEC and 麻豆原创 facilitated a smoother implementation process. Leveraging 麻豆原创’s proven solutions enabled NEC to focus on delivering value and further reinforced their partnership.

Looking ahead, Shigemasa highlighted the need to view the go-live as a starting point rather than an endpoint. NEC’s vision entails further enhancements in employee experiences, connecting HR seamlessly with other IT processes, and continuous improvement. The NEC-麻豆原创 relationship transcends the role of a mere solution provider; it serves as a model for NEC’s aspirations of global prominence. Learning from 麻豆原创’s industry best practices, which included organizational setup, communication channels, and relationship dynamics helped to shape NEC’s understanding of global operations and deliver even greater value and business outcomes while unlocking the benefits of digital transformation.

NEC’s transformative journey embodies the essence of adaptability, collaboration, and perseverance. By embracing global perspectives, fostering strong partnerships, and aligning with a business strategic vision, NEC not only navigates transformational challenges but emerges as a leader of global excellence, ready to chart new horizons in the ever-evolving business landscape, and staying future-proof with a future-ready workforce.

Claus Andresen is SVP and Head of Cloud Success Services, Asia Pacific & Japan (APJ).

The post Building the Workforce of the Future: NEC’s 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Journey to Redefine the Employee Experience appeared first on 麻豆原创 Southeast Asia News Center.

Learn more about the new normal of cloud transformation, the experience imperative, and how cloud is less successful without people in our chat with Claus Andresen, Head of Cloud Success Services for Asia Pacific Japan (APJ) at 麻豆原创.

Q: The past few years have seen businesses deal with enormous change, from the pandemic to impacted supply chains and demands to work from home. What has that meant for digital transformation?

A: Businesses have dealt with a vast range of challenges in recent years. As a result, it鈥檚 clear that digital transformation today isn鈥檛 your traditional transformation. It鈥檚 not even the same as it was just five years ago.

Transformations that may once have been seen as ways to cut costs or drive efficiencies are now long-term, strategic investments that will define the future successes of businesses.

And in line with this, investment is accelerating. , companies will have invested more in digital transformation than in all other ICT initiatives combined. That is incredible. Here in APJ, .

The new normal of digital transformation is based on enterprises migrating to the cloud to solve strategic issues. Cloud offers a simple way to address key business issues: speed, agility, value, and innovation. Organizations gain the agility and flexibility to build infrastructure on the go, rapidly deploy resources, scale quickly, collaborate, and get rid of silos.

And we see three key factors that are defining successful cloud transformations: Simplicity, experience, and people.

You speak with APJ customers who are transforming every day. What does a simple, successful cloud journey look like in this new normal of transformation?

First and foremost, we understand that a simple transformation is more likely to be a successful transformation. Complexity is the enemy.

That鈥檚 why we focus on simplifying our customers鈥� transformations through consolidation and integration. First, we work to consolidate various business touchpoints to get a bird鈥檚 eye view of our customer鈥檚 departments, functions, suppliers, and customers in the cloud. This approach breaks down barriers between people and processes, facilitating greater collaboration and unlocking the scale and agility of the cloud.

Then we work closely with customers to tailor and integrate a solution to their unique challenges. That means identifying the right cloud, data, and analytics platforms to best suit business needs 鈥� whether best-of-breed or integrated single systems. Each approach has its own merits and potential drawbacks dependent on whether you have the IT resources to perform a complete integration, and whether the near-term implementation hurdles are worth it for the long-term business improvements they could provide.

Finally, we focus on optimizing our customers鈥� core business processes. Streamlining existing business processes and creating new, intelligent processes is key for successful cloud journeys. This includes workflow automation, customer experience management, and advanced analytics.

You mention experience. How does experience tie-in with today鈥檚 transformations?

It鈥檚 simple. Digital transformation puts experience at the heart of everything.

This isn鈥檛 just meaningful and relevant experiences for our customers, though that is critical. It is empowering them to extend that experience imperative to their own customers, their employees, even their partners and suppliers. of enterprises will transform their business models using this 鈥榯otal鈥� experience by 2026.

By focusing on experience in this way, we create customer lifetime value by embedding choice and convenience at every step. Internally, digitalization enables hybrid work, streamlines processes, and facilitates collaboration. Externally, it reshapes the way businesses engage with customers using data and intuitive platforms to keep them coming back.

End-to-end experience is a real differentiator. Digitally connected, experience-driven businesses see superior performance and value across the board 鈥� from attraction to advocacy, and, ultimately, winning in a competitive environment.

Finally, let鈥檚 talk about the human element. How do you make sure we don鈥檛 forget about the people?

Installing the best technology in the world means nothing without adoption.

Managing change is central to helping people adapt to these new processes, technologies, and ways of working. But, as more organizations digitally transform, the role of change management must also evolve.

The real goal of change management is to establish a culture that embraces change with agility and confidence. This places an organization and its people in a better position to anticipate challenges, mitigate risks, and build up resilience to vulnerabilities. With effective communication about the need for change and its benefits to the organization, more people will adopt changes willingly. You鈥檒l notice a significant improvement in employee performance as people feel better supported and understand why you are making changes.

What do you want people to remember in 2023?

麻豆原创 has been at the heart of countless transformation journeys across different industries and degrees of complexity. We understand that getting the greatest value and performance from IT solutions means simplifying and humanizing technology.

The key is focusing on business needs rather than solutions. That means putting simplicity, experience, and people at the heart of your decision-making and ensuring every technology investment improves the way your team delivers success.

The post Not Your Traditional Transformation: Secrets of Today鈥檚 Successful Cloud Journeys appeared first on 麻豆原创 Southeast Asia News Center.

At 麻豆原创鈥檚 recent 麻豆原创PHIRE NOW 2021 conference, we announced a bold vision to enable businesses towards the next stage 鈥� enabling them to transform themselves to improve business outcomes, better navigate changing economic and geopolitical conditions, to empower their sustainable future. Here鈥檚 my summary of the key takeaways for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the region:

Navigating disruption with simplicity

Digital transformation amidst disruption has become mission-critical, with more businesses choosing to run enterprise computing to the cloud.

While many businesses are already familiar with the cloud, today鈥檚 current landscape necessitates this shift, even as Asia continues to hone its growth ambitions.

For SMEs, this step is especially crucial to drive innovation enhance agility, ensure seamless collaboration with partners and adapt to a fast-accelerating landscape. , our Business Transformation as a service for holistic transformation 鈥� all in one place, allows SMEs to do this, all with the benefits of integration, extensibility, analytics, and one data model.

No business does business alone

We have seen significant disruption of supply chain networks and operations worldwide, with businesses having to find alternative suppliers and markets for growth. In fact, many businesses have learnt not to 鈥減ut all their eggs in one basket鈥�, and that no business does business alone 鈥� particularly highlighting the importance of strong business networks that help connect buyers and suppliers across the world amidst disruption.

For SMEs, being connected and part of a network can help open the door to a major B2B marketplace and potentially large opportunities for other organizations looking for specialized goods and services. In a sense, this allows niche, previously unknown small businesses to break into the global marketplace and quickly fulfil supply shortages and unearth business opportunities with much larger enterprises.

The 麻豆原创 Business Network forms the world鈥檚 largest business network, combining 麻豆原创鈥檚 leading networks 鈥� Ariba Network, Logistics Business Network, Asset Intelligence Network 鈥� into a single portal. By joining this new network, businesses can expand opportunities beyond their pool usual suppliers or buyers and unlock new business opportunities across the entire network.

Sustainability 鈥� the green line

At 麻豆原创PHIRE NOW, 麻豆原创 released a portfolio of new sustainability-specific products which enables businesses to embed sustainability within their core business functions 鈥� tracking sustainability through product lifecycle and end-to-end visibility across the business.

Increasingly, the spotlight has been cast on businesses around sustainability, as awareness on global warming and unethical practices continue to be of focus with calls for businesses鈥� accountability by governments and consumers alike. To win the hearts and minds of customers, it鈥檚 crucial for businesses to ensure sustainable practices and transparency across their business 鈥� not just at the raw material or production stage, but across their entire supply chain network.

Besides taking the step towards accountability and creating a positive impact on societies they operate in, having visibility across their supply chain allows businesses to weed out inefficiencies and manage carbon footprint and unsustainable practices.

Towards Asia鈥檚 new era of growth, empowering our sustainable future

The recent disruptive events are a salient reminder of the importance of not resting on one鈥檚 laurels. The key to long-term success of Asia鈥檚 growth is underpinned by the transformation of businesses towards intelligent enterprises 鈥� where the evolving landscape requires companies to adapt with agility, resilience, and swiftness.

As SMEs take this bold step in redefining themselves, it makes our work at 麻豆原创 impactful when we are able to help and enable our customers towards a digital future. Together with our partner ecosystem, we can work hand in hand with SMEs to provide solutions and a tailored approach to their future business growth.

When SMEs succeed, economies thrive. I鈥檓 looking forward to this near future with businesses becoming well-poised to take advantage of the next stage of growth, and tapping into the world鈥檚 largest network, scale up growth opportunities far beyond their shores.

Catch the of my session with Pannie Sia, Vice President and Head of Midmarket, 麻豆原创 SEA at 麻豆原创PHIRE NOW.

Claus Andresen is senior vice president and head of Midmarket for 麻豆原创 APJ.

The post Asia鈥檚 SMEs Opportune Moment To RISE Is Now appeared first on 麻豆原创 Southeast Asia News Center.

It鈥檚 clear that superior experiences increasingly form the foundation of sustainable growth, particularly in the very dynamic and diverse Asia Pacific region. It is this foundation from which other key ingredients 鈥� customer acquisition, talent attraction and retention, next-generation technologies and data-driven decision making 鈥� come together to fast-track growth.

Just like my favourite food, beef rendang, every single ingredient offers a unique flavour to the palate to make it an outstanding dish. Experience can the element that seals the recipe for long-term success for SMEs in the region. Let鈥檚 look a little more closely at this.

Customer Experience as the Main Ingredient

The nature of work and business has changed because of the pandemic. As a result, building trust with customers, which smaller firms tend to see as their inherent competitive advantage, has changed fundamentally. In fact, showed that enterprises in the region identify customer experience as a strategic imperative for survival and growth, with more than a third (34%) saying service excellence is now their primary source of value and differentiation. Positive customer experiences have become the foremost strategic consideration for businesses, with key factors being personalisation for the customer (58%) and providing high-quality products and/or services (54%).

SMEs need to experiment and innovate with new technologies and business models that will deliver better experiences. The accelerated pace of digital transformation over the last year gives them a golden opportunity to experiment and scale new innovations and engagement models to better enable resiliency and growth.

Perfecting the Craft by Organising for Agility

If customer experience is the main ingredient, then agility and being data-driven are key condiments that will unleash the full flavour of the perfect dish we want to serve up. Taking the first steps to establish a digital backbone is crucial to enable greater agility. This digital backbone will enable SMEs to maximise their operational efficiency to ensure business continuity, and expediate decision making processes in the face of disruptions.

The tectonic shift in consumer behaviour has major implications for SMEs in the region. 40 million people in six countries, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines, went online for the first time in 2020 鈥� pushing the total number of internet users in Southeast Asia to 400 million 鈥� or nearly 70% of the population. Digital engagement models are no longer a good to have, but a must-have, and digital platforms must no longer be constrained to just marketing channels, but instead, must serve as a conduit for businesses to reach and engage more users.

A Generous Serving of Growth

In my conversations with customers, many understand the importance of having a digital backbone. However, some are still hesitant to jump all into digital. My humble advice to them is to take small steps, but don鈥檛 delay those small steps. In a region like Southeast Asia with an increasingly digital-first citizenry, relatively youthful demographic, and a growing middle class 鈥� the prioritisation of experience will place SMEs firmly on a long-term growth trajectory.

What are your thoughts on customer experience? Do you think it is a foundational ingredient for business success?

Claus Andresen is senior vice president and head of Midmarket for 麻豆原创 APJ.

The post A Recipe for Long-Term Success in a Distributed World appeared first on 麻豆原创 Southeast Asia News Center.

The idea of perseverance in the face of adversity is one that coincides with the coming Chinese New Year of the Ox. To many of us in Asia, the ox represents hard work, positivity and most importantly perseverance. These are key traits businesses of all sizes need this year as they stay the course on their digitalisation efforts with a firm eye on Asia鈥檚 growing digital economy. As we ring in the Chinese New Year, what are some of the fundamentals SMEs have to consider as they continue to persevere on their digital transformation journeys?

Building interconnectivity

Looking ahead to 2021, ambitious and fast-growing enterprises should persevere in their embrace of a holistic and interconnected digital-first mindset as they recalibrate for sustained growth in the next decade.

This is especially critical for fast-growing businesses in this region that are looking to position themselves for growth in Asia鈥檚 maturing digital economy. The key ingredient to success is the adoption of a digital-first mindset that is not only focused on technology, but also interconnectedness. Over the course of the last year, we have seen digital-first organisations achieve significant results when it comes to employee productivity, customer interactions and revenue growth.

Interconnectivity also means SMEs will have a clear view that offers them a blueprint to becoming intelligent enterprises regardless of where they are on in their digital transformation journeys. They need to work with a trusted partner that is across their entire business, offering them unprecedented insights for transformation and improvement, enabling faster time to market in a dynamic marketplace.

At the same time, interconnectivity compels businesses to relook at different priorities, including resilience, agility, and efficiency from a fresh perspective 鈥� often involving a whole-of-business approach to management that embraces data sharing and process reimagination to better collaborate across each business unit.

Going back to the basics: rapidly evolving customer experience (CX)

Before a digital transformation can even begin, businesses must . The driving force behind technology decisions should be customers with the aim to make their lives easier instead of making things easier for the business. Most importantly, customer focus is the basis for all other digital transformation decisions.

In 2020, SMEs aggressively started their , but it鈥檚 never truly over. While a focus on customer experience has traditionally been based on transactions with customers, SMEs must keep in mind that the customer experience includes pre- and post-sales interactions too with all stages having the ability to make or break a customer relationship.

To further grow in the coming year, every business leader will need to think about experience differently 鈥� especially when everything we do, from how we shop, to how and where we work, to how we interact with others 鈥� has been structurally upended. An experience renaissance is happening, and the companies that put experience at the centre of their business will spark growth and be the new age of leaders into the year and decade ahead.

Reimagine the supply chain

The pandemic has made us shift our gaze onto the supply chain. Rightly so, it has taken the spotlight for many businesses as many SMEs struggled to pivot and find their footing. We understand things can change overnight, and businesses need to be ready.

The key to regaining composure lies in achieving an agile and intelligent supply chain that鈥檚 capable of providing end to end visibility in the form of a digital supply chain. With this next evolution, SMEs will be able to automate processes, improve decision-making and more importantly, plan ahead any potential disruptions to their supply chains.

The next generation of winning businesses will be defined by their supply chain innovation as much as customer experience reimagination. In fact, both go hand in hand with supply chains having the ability to directly impact customer experience. It is for this reason SMEs must capitalise on the opportunities that arise, remain mindful of such considerations while leveraging a strong digital core to achieve business outcomes and keep up with changing consumer demands.

Looking ahead in the year of the Ox

Digital transformation is an ongoing process, which means continuous change and venturing into the unknown can be difficult, but the benefits that come from creating a forward-thinking, customer-focused, Intelligent Enterprise can be lasting. Combined with interconnected communications and holistic management strategies, the enhanced collaborations across business units showed exciting progress for SMEs 鈥� be it overall cost reductions or reimagination customer and employee experiences.

What鈥檚 more, with 5G鈥檚 growing adoption across Asia, the proliferation of data-driven intelligence will be the game changer for many businesses. As we prepare for a future driven by data, SMEs that have already developed plans to monetise the innovations brought forth by emerging technologies such as 5G will stand in good stead.

Together with our partners, I believe 麻豆原创 can bring a to help midsize businesses achieve value through holistic management strategies.

We鈥檙e ready for the possibilities in Asia. What are you excited about in 2021?

Claus Andresen is senior vice president and head of Midmarket for 麻豆原创 APJ.

The post Persevere With The Spirit of Ox: Building Interconnectivity For Midmarket appeared first on 麻豆原创 Southeast Asia News Center.