A top official of Cobena Business Analytics and Strategy (CBAS) has encouraged Philippine exporters to immediately undergo digital transformation in order for them to better serve the overseas markets and become competitive.
CBAS president and CEO Francis Del Val stressed that bigger is not necessarily better when it comes to digital transformation. “In fact, we found out that smaller organizations are more likely to succeed in digital transformation. For the medium and small enterprises (MSMEs) out there, that’s absolutely great news because that means that you can in fact potentially be disruptive and employ innovation,” said Del Val.
He noted that Filipino exporters ship to the United States, European Union, China, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore, which are highly digitally- transformed economies. “Unless we embrace digital technology today, we are at risk of losing from other countries, particularly within Asean, which are already rapidly digitally transforming,” he said.
To undergo digital transformation, del Val advised companies to understand first the kind of technology that fit in their organization. “You can start small. You can start on platforms because nowadays as there are a lot of technologies that are already available as in service. Therefore, the capital expenditure need not be expensive,” he said.
“You need to have the company’s CEO articulate the vision that digital transformation is going to be key to the organization. Second, you need to assign a role, someone in the organization who in fact will make it happen.”
Del Val said digital transformation and data go hand-in-hand, noting that one without the other could not be successful. “Don’t try to do everything yourselves, there is an ecosystem of companies and partners out there who are prepared to support you,” he added.
