SAP and Qualtrics, in collaboration with the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), have recently unveiled plans to invest S$14.1 million to establish Asia’s inaugural Center for Experience Management (XM) Innovation.
Even in the face of the ‘never-normal’ world, Eileen Chua, Managing Director at Singapore, believes organisations must prioritise agility and prepare for continuous adjustments in fulfilling the needs and expectations of customers and employees in the experience economy as they head into 2022. She stated that XM is not only a key priority for businesses in today’s competitive environment, but is also a significant differentiator in unlocking innovation, driving and delivering customer value, and increasing customer retention.
With this, the recently announced Centre for XM Innovation in Asia aims to advance Singapore’s XM discipline by developing professional capabilities for XM in the country, creating a community of XM professionals for further advancement, and enabling organisations to use experience as their competitive edge. Chua further explained:
“For 50 years, SAP has been the trusted system of record for enterprises all over the world. With the setup of the XM COE here, we intend to build a new level of intelligence across an organisation so that appropriate business decisions can easily be taken to address people’s emotions and attitudes and close any experience gap in their business processes.”
The Centre for XM Innovation is the latest in a string of programs targeted at expanding and strengthening the XM category in Singapore. Other previous initiatives include the establishment of a dedicated data center in the country, geared towards ensuring the compliance of government and enterprise customers with data security and sovereignty requirements when deploying Qualtrics’ XM platform. In June 2021, the SAP-owned company also announced that it will be scaling up operations and investments in the Asia-Pacific region with plans to hire 1,200 staff by 2024, which is a significant investment since its launch in 2015.
“The launch of the Centre for XM Innovation in Asia by Qualtrics is a significant step in advancing the capabilities and innovation of Singapore’s businesses, and to establish the country as a beacon of excellence to empower a new era of growth through experience innovation,” she highlighted.
Improving Singapore’s Customer and Employee Experience With SAP and Qualtrics Technologies
In order to empower more than 180,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore, the Centre for XM Innovation will also equip them with advanced technologies, upskill people in XM core skill sets, and promote local businesses in the international market. Additionally, the facility will also undertake industry research across the region and set benchmarks for businesses to better assist organisations to evaluate success across various XM projects.
Commenting on the latest announcement, Digital Industry Singapore Senior Vice President Ang Chin Tah, remarked:
“SAP and Qualtrics launch of their Asia-first Centre for Experience Management Innovation here speaks to their confidence in Singapore as an innovation and commercial hub. Through partnerships with local and regional businesses, the Centre will help them become more competitive, and provide learning opportunities for Singaporeans in employing digital tools to better understand their customers.”
According to Qualtrics Head of Southeast Asia Mao Gen Foo, leading organisations such as SingPost (Singapore Post Limited), which has deployed the Qualtrics solution to create a scalable listening platform, and Integrated Health Information Systems (IHiS), which tapped the XM provider to ensure consistent delivery of reliable healthcare services to Singaporeans, are already succeeding with XM. He added:
“The opening of a dedicated Centre for XM Innovation in Asia will be of huge value to organisations across Singapore, providing expert resources and support to help them successfully navigate modern and emerging business challenges, alongside fuelling long-lasting local and global success.”
Moreover, the Centre for XM Innovation intends to create 30 additional jobs for Singapore, including XM scientists and researchers, digital supply chain practitioners, and business architects, while also helping to draw local and international companies to foster innovation in the region. As part of its collaboration with the Qualtrics XM Institute, which is headed by Bruce Temkin, the centre will also gather XM leaders and professionals to share and discuss XM best practices, networking opportunities, thought leadership insights, and specialist training and curriculum.
