How the pandemic is pushing businesses towards digital transformation

“What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.”

It seems this adage still holds true and has become even more relevant these days. With the pandemic disrupting our routines and workflows, resilience and adaptability have become necessities to overcome the challenges of the past year.

Businesses and corporations are no exceptions. But how exactly are industries adapting to the changes brought by the pandemic? PLDT Enterprise recently held IMPACT: The Philippine Digital Convention 2020, wherein they provided a platform for discussions on how companies from various sectors can pivot digitally to keep up with the changing business landscape.

Here are some lessons we learned from the event’s industry-focused breakout sessions:

Responsible tourism starts with you

PLDT Enterprise AVP and Head of Corporate Relationship Management Jay Lagdameo showed how the travel and tourism industry has changed within the past year. He prefaced his presentation by saying that with our current circumstances, responsible tourism should begin with every individual. To support the industry, travelers need to take care of their own health and safety.

But what can we expect from the industry in the future? Lagdameo identified the emergence of bubble tourism in known tourist destinations such as Baguio, Siargao, and Panglao as a solution.

In the long-term, domestic tourism will be vital. To help partners in the local tourism industry, PLDT is committed to providing solutions – such as reliable and secure connectivity, virtual assistants, and emergency hotlines, among others – to make touchless travel possible.

Banks should also secure themselves with PPE

During the breakout session on eBanking, most speakers began with the observation that prior to the pandemic, banks were primarily considered as brick-and-mortar establishments. Filipinos are used to physical cash transactions. This is one of the reasons why banks need to inform the public about how they are transitioning digitally.

EastWest Bank’s Chief Information Security Officer Manuel Joey Regala went over the changes in the banking industry by discussing the PPE that banks must use. “Like a chameleon, we adapt to our environment and equip ourselves with a new PPE: people, process, and equipment.”

According to Regala, “people” refers to raising customer awareness about proper digital banking methods, such as not using public wifi and frequently changing their passwords. “Process,” on the other hand, calls for banks to update the policies and processes that are currently in place. Lastly, he noted that banks also need to consider “equipment” and tweak their data protection systems to include VPN and multi-factor authentication, among others.

As he mentioned, banks and customers alike must secure themselves with PPE, in the same way we wear PPEs to combat the virus.

The digital transformation of the healthcare industry is a priority for all

The pandemic has shown us the importance of digital health services. It has become imperative for all other sectors to assist the health sector in its shift to digital. In line with this, the breakout session on eHealth emphasized the different ways companies are supporting the sector’s digital transformation.

Head of GlobalData’s Thematic Research Cyrus Mewawalla highlighted some of the 6 key innovations that are and will continue to change the healthcare industry: medical biosensors, wearable technology, health and fitness applications, virtual and augmented reality, telemedicine, and cybersecurity.

Let’s focus on wearable devices. These are not new to us – many of us probably have one that we use to track our fitness activities. But in a healthcare context, these can help deliver early diagnosis and facilitate remote patient monitoring, among others. With the positive benefits that can be delivered by these, Mewawalla noted that insurance companies have also become key players in their development.

Smart cities are the future

The breakout session on eGovernment highlighted the future of the Philippines: smart cities. Speakers during the session listed down some of the components of a smart city. These include smart health, smart education, smart buildings, and smart transportation, among others. These different sectors need to be interconnected through a large network and should be accessible to everyone.

GlobalData’s Asia Pacific Service Director Dustin Kehoe noted that aside from the government, telecom providers have to be on top of the processes that would help in the creation of smart cities. Connectivity – alongside data infrastructure and IT services – will play an important role in this future.

Because of the interconnectedness that will serve as the key feature of these cities, smart cities are poised to become not just future-ready but also disaster-ready.

PLDT Enterprise can enable digital manufacturing and logistics

How do we digitize the manufacturing and movement of various products? PLDT Enterprise product experts Jhoey Benedicto and Jaz Garcia discussed some of the ways these can be accomplished.

Benedicto illustrated the future of manufacturing plants. To enforce physical distancing, plant workers will have their own wearables that they can use to clock in. A Plant Information Management System, which is an aggregation, visualization, and analytics tool, will also be introduced. This will allow a plant manager to check the conditions of the plant remotely.

Meanwhile, Garcia showed delegates the changes in logistics services. With the introduction of fleet management solutions, the head office can check in on the whereabouts of deliveries remotely. Plate number recognition and geozone alerts, powered by Smart 5G, can account for the security of vehicles. The acknowledgment of delivery receipts can also be carried out digitally through digital forms with QR. Lastly, payment for products can be coursed through Paymaya.

With its products and services, PLDT Enterprise makes it possible for various industries to begin their digital transformation.

The three-day convention showcased that while the pandemic may have abruptly forced businesses to reassess their operations and strategies, there is an opportunity to utilize this to consider a more digital future. Apart from eBanking, eHealth, eGovernment, eTravel and Tourism, and eManufacturing and Logistics, the event also included breakout sessions for eLearning, eCommerce and Retail, and eBPO industries. These sessions discussed trends and technologies that will pave the way for enterprises to pivot towards success in the new future of work.

The first fully-digital version of the annual PH Digicon this year featured PLDT Enterprise executives and notable industry leaders such as Cisco President & CEO Chuck Robbins, NTT Research President and CEO Kazuhiro Gomi, Nokia President & CEO Pekka Lundmark, CEO of Salesforce Industries David Schmaier, Cisco Systems President for Asia Pacific & Japan Sanjay Kaul, and Founder and CEO of goop, actress, and author Gywneth Paltrow as this year’s celebrity headline speaker.

If you want to catch up on the convention, you can visit PH Digicon 2020’s website for the event highlights. – Rappler.com