Data As The Digital Currency, People As The Key To Digital Success

By Wong Heng Chew, Country President, Fujitsu Singapore

Wong Heng Chew, Country President, Fujitsu Singapore

Data is the Digital Currency

Investing in IoT and analytics makes perfect business sense. Today, there is more data available than what we can analyze and understand. Yet this largely untapped resource is the core of a Smart City and the currency of choice in the digital economy. We are only starting to recognize the importance of data to everyone, albeit in different ways. Companies which invest in Business Intelligence often find a range of substantial benefits, from improved customer metrics, accelerated time to market, to strengthening their product and service mixes, brand valuation and recognition, and ultimately affecting their bottom-line.

Digitization has led to an explosion of new data, and the use of technology in solutions for data management, protection, analysis and delivery has become invaluable. Some trends that we can look forward to in 2018 include:

1. AI-based Disruption: A new wave of AI-based disruption is expected to begin, with retail a likely candidate for significant change. By the end of 2018, manufacturing companies will use AI for at least some part of the value chain, either in logistics, manufacturing or maintenance. To date, techniques where one AI is used to improve the performance of another have only existed in research settings. In 2018 we will see such techniques, e.g. Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), deployed to enhance production AI systems.

2. The Year of IoT Security: Even simple sensors will be able to provide secure communications and any insecure IoT project will have a short lifespan. The need for secure communications between machines on the industrial shop floor – both internally within an organization and between producers – will drive the acceptance of global security protocols. The need for secure and undeniable transactions will see technologies like blockchain being applied to broader usage areas, beyond financial transactions.

3. B2B is Driving IoT, not B2C: In 2018, we will continue to see investment and progress in business-to-business IoT deployments by far outstrip business-to-consumer projects. IoT will become embedded into B2B products at a pace faster than the consumer market can keep up.

4. Data-driven Approach to Decisions in the Workplace: 2018 will see a big switch to how decisions come to light through data driven insights. Implementing workplace analytics will ensure companies take an evidence-based approach to set meaningful targets and design interventions to help employees achieve their full potential and deliver what matters most.

For Businesses to Remain Relevant, They Must Seek to Form Meaningful Co-Creation Partnerships, To Marry Technology With Industry Expertise To Develop Truly Innovative Offerings

Data will play an important role, with an increasing need for workplace transparency, such as offering insights on potential issues of concern such as gender parity.

5. Adaptability and Critically, Collaboration, are Vital: New technology will continue to disrupt existing business models and industries. For businesses to remain relevant, they must seek to form meaningful co-creation partnerships, to marry technology with industry expertise to develop truly innovative offerings.

Paradigm shift: A whole-of-organization approach

In an environment of constant technological innovation, businesses are adapting to meet challenges of the digital age, to secure not only success but their survival. To meet digital challenges, Fujitsu believes that around half of the business leaders worldwide are planning to introduce Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence this year.

Realizing an organization’s digital vision and truly making the most of the transformative impact of digital however, goes beyond technology. It also means having the right people, processes and partnerships in place. People, Actions, Collaboration and Technology: this PACT serves as the basis for an organization’s digital success today.

Let me focus in particular on talent management and development, as we see sustained interest across industries for professionals with both traditional and new technology skills. As technologies transform the workplace, humans remain the ones who will accelerate its impact. Raising the game by getting and retaining the best talent will require a multi-faceted approach. Skills upgrading, talent development and cross-retraining are but some of the HR tools to support a broad-based enablement of new and digital skills. For example, a manufacturing operations staff can learn dashboard and analytics, and an IT staff can pick up Naive Bayes algorithm for classification.

In 2018, there will be a major shift in our understanding of the digital skills that are actually important for the current workplace. When it comes to the ‘skills gap’, the general consensus has been that people who lack technical or digital skills. Whilst this is still the case, we will see a major shift in what organizations will look for in digital roles. There will be an increasing demand for candidates with empathy and agility, not to mention the aptitude to co-create and adapt to change. After all, job roles no longer change over decades; they change in a matter of months. There is no time to waste to ensure the future workforce is properly equipped with the right skills, which will leave them best-placed to do the jobs their employers need and work in new ways with customers in order to succeed.

Obtaining these skills will be a critical stumbling block, as organizations struggle to balance the elements needed. In our recent PACT survey, 98 percent of the respondents in Singapore agree that up-skilling existing staff will be vital to success in the next three years. In 2018, organizations will prioritize the up-skilling of staff and recognize that beyond targeted recruitment, schemes like reverse mentoring and training are needed. Dynamic workforce planning and on-going learning will become the markers of a thriving enterprise.

This will be an exciting year as we can certainly look forward to new technology that will continue to disrupt existing business models and industries. As businesses transform and strive to remain relevant, turning their digital vision into a practical reality will take more than just technology or best practices. Having the right people with the right mix of digital skills, attitudes and behaviour, can help shape an environment where digital projects can fail fast and fail forward.