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.

The post SAP and Qualtrics to Build Asia’s First Centre for XM Innovation appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced new ways of working and has forced organisations to focus on customer and employee’s pulse like never before to ensure they remain physically, mentally, and socially healthy to contribute to the survival and success of the company. Even during these times of disruptions, governments and businesses have embarked on experience transformation journeys leveraging intelligent technologies to support workplace flexibility, productivity, and agility.

A recent report by Qualtrics XM Institute involving over 4,000 global employees revealed that employee expectations and needs have evolved during the pandemic. Amidst the newness of remote and hybrid working to many, 53{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} said long-term remote work policy is one strong factor that would make them stay in their company. The majority (51{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}) said their productivity has improved while working remotely– attributed to having flexible schedules, personal space, and zero time spent for commuting, among others. Remarkably, 53{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of the respondents appreciated their organisation’s purpose more since the pandemic and they are twice as likely to say they have improved their well-being despite these trying times.

In Japan, Qualtrics, the leader and creator of the Experience Management (XM) category, has witnessed the increasing demand for XM solutions to support organisations’ playbooks in strengthening both internal and external relationships. To support the Japanese enterprises and governments’ drive for enhanced experiences not only for customers and employees but also for their brands and products, the SAP-owned company will soon launch a new data center in the country.

Addressing the Increasing Demand for Qualtrics XM Platform

Satoru Kumashiro, Country Manager for Qualtrics in Japan, explained that the pandemic has further accelerated the experience transformation strategy of enterprises and governments worldwide, including in Japan, requiring more stringent data security measures. Globally, over 750 government departments and agencies rely on Qualtrics’ best-in-class XM solutions.

Sharing about Qualtrics massive investment and scaling of operations in Japan, Kumashiro said:

“The opening of a data center in Japan is part of our efforts to meet the increasing demands of our customers by expanding our support, expertise, and capabilities. Organisations across all industries, including those with strict data handling requirements, such as government and financial services will be able to benefit from our industry-leading Experience Management Platform. We will continue our efforts to obtain ISMAP certification so that even more customers in Japan can use Qualtrics solutions with confidence.”

Qualtrics have been helping organisations in Japan retain and win new customers as well as improve employee talent management. With the new data center, the XM company further deepens its support to Japanese businesses and governments by helping them comply with data sovereignty and security requirements while leveraging the Qualtrics XM Platform. The Qualtrics data center, which will start operations in 2022, will be the pioneer data center in Japan that is highly focussed on experience management technologies.

Brigid Archibald, Managing Director for Qualtrics in the Asia Pacific and Japan, highlighted that the company has a 10-year advantage in the XM category during this time when organisations recognise experience data as the most valuable data. She added:

“Our continued and growing investment in Japan demonstrates our long-standing commitment to build and lead the XM category in the country, ensuring our customers – including Okinawa City Council, Daikin, and Higo Bank – lead the way and succeed in this age of experience transformation,”

Part of Qualtrics’ business expansion plans in APJ is moving the Japanese headquarters to Tokyo and opening an office in Kansai to support regional customers. Earlier this year, Qualtrics has also forged a strategic partnership with IBM Japan to further expand the capabilities of the Qualtrics XM Platform.

The post New Data Center in Japan to Back Qualtrics XM Platform Demand appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

In 2020, the Qualtrics Partner Network (QPN), which provides organisations with access to best-in-class experience management consulting, technology, and services, doubled to more than 200 global member companies in a short span of two years. Over 85{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of Qualtrics customers’ XM programmes are underpinned by QPN partners’ innovations that address every organisation’s unique business need.

In the third year of QPN, Qualtrics, the leader in customer experience and creator of the XM category, celebrated its annual Partner of the Year Awards acknowledging the successes and contributions of its clients in the advancement of experience management. This year, new categories were added such as the Breakthrough Award for new partners that broaden the reach of XM to new markets and the All-In Award for those that exemplify Qualtrics’ cultural values as voted by the client-facing teams.

Leading Business Technology Partners in 2021

The 2021 XM Partner Award winners from all over the world demonstrated outstanding contributions in advancing and scaling up their customer, employee, product, and brand experience programmes, driving engagement, retention, loyalty, and brand relevance. Here are the leading business technology partners of Qualtrics recognised during the 2021 Partner Summit:

Korn Ferry: Employee XM Partner of the Year – Asia Pacific & Japan and Europe, Middle East & Africa and Innovation Partner of the Year

Korn Ferry, a global organisational consulting firm and a global leader in employee experience, helps clients design optimal organisation structures, roles, and responsibilities. Backed by 7,000 experts in over 50 countries, the company delivers services on core areas including organisation strategy and total rewards. In February 2021, the consulting firm collaborated with Qualtrics, combining Qualtrics’ cloud solution and Korn Ferry’s expertise in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) to accelerate the impact of DEI efforts for organisations worldwide.

“Korn Ferry is delighted to be recognised by Qualtrics for our expertise in delivering best-in-class employee experience programmes on a global scale,” said David Marzo, Global Solutions Leader, Korn Ferry. “The combination of Korn Ferry’s transformational advisory expertise and Qualtrics EmployeeXM empowers our clients to close the gaps to create a radically human organisation”

EY: Customer XM Partner of the Year – Americas and Asia Pacific & Japan

Leading professional services organisation EY works across assurance, consulting, law, strategy, tax, and transactions. Leveraging experience and operational metrics, the firm empowers companies worldwide to drive exceptional experiences, and innovate faster and with more insight. Last month, the multinational firm launched EY Qualtrics Experience Management competency to support companies’ experience transformation through end-to-end solutions– from strategy to design and enablement to implementation. 

“EY’s purpose of building a better working world has been founded on the belief that Customer and Employee experiences are interconnected and have a direct influence in driving outcomes,” said Vijay Nidumolu, Managing Director, EY. “We are honored to be recognized by Qualtrics as the EmployeeXM partner of the year in 2020 and a CustomerXM partner of the year in 2021 which is consistent with how we approach everything we do for our clients.”

ServiceNow: Alliance Partner of the Year

ServiceNow, a software-as-a-service provider, offers a smoother and more impactful way to put an organisation’s insights into action by harnessing the combined power of ServiceNow’s digital workflows with Qualtrics’ experience management technology on a single platform. Bill McDermott, the former SAP CEO, is ServiceNow’s CEO and President.

FullStory: Technology Partner of the Year

Atlanta-based FullStory offers digital experience intelligence as well as debugging and developer tools. FullStory has an integration with Qualtrics that helps customers seamlessly reconcile qualitative customer feedback with digital experience intelligence to understand and take action on pressing issues and opportunities, greatly improving customer experience.

WSA: Employee XM Partner of the Year – Americas

Workforce Science Associates’ (WSA) leadership has empowered leading workforce engagement businesses such as Kenexa. The Nebraska-based company is focused on Workforce and Employee Engagement Consulting, Project Managing, Leading, and Executing.

Hall & Partners: Brand XM Partner of the Year – Americas

A pioneering strategic consultancy powered by full-service market research, connected data, and inspiring insight, Hall & Partners leverages technology and experience management to design, gather and inspire businesses to build stronger relationships with customers, consumers, and patients. The company currently has 10 offices worldwide including in Singapore, Melbourne, and Sydney.

SOM: Breakthrough Partner of the Year – Americas

SOM is a 100{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} Quebec-based research firm with over 300 employees specialising in data collection, analysis, and visualisation– empowering companies make informed and judicious decisions.

Walker: All-In Partner of the Year – Americas

Walker is a full-service XM firm that serves a wide range of industries including B2B, consumer, and public sector organisations. Walker delivers industry-best tools and expert guidance to drive better, faster results.

Kantar: Customer XM Partner of the Year – Europe, Middle East & Africa

London-headquartered Kantar is a data and evidence-based agency providing insights and actionable recommendations to customers worldwide. The firm enables organisations to explore the entire customer journey and embed operational change, drive customer centricity, and deliver business impact. Kantar has presence spanning 90 markets and is known as the world’s leading data, insights, and consulting company.

AKT: Breakthrough Partner of the Year – Europe, Middle East & Africa 

AKT is one of the largest People Experience Management Cloud Solutions consultancies in EMEA. Aside from ensuring successful implementation, integration, optimisation, and support of the entire suite of SAP SuccessFactors HXM and Qualtrics solutions, AKT helps companies adapt to the new expectations in the digital experience economy by redefining and transforming the way people experience their companies and organisations.

Zill Consulting: All-In Partner of the Year – Europe, Middle East & Africa

Founded by two experienced Qualtrics consultants who bring together the benefits of combining advisory and technical practices for XM, Dublin-based Zill provides design, implementation, and managed services to XM programmes.

IBM: Asia Pacific & Japan Breakthrough Partner of the Year

IBM joined the QPN in November 2019 and has delivered professional implementation of Qualtrics EmployeeXM to organisations in Japan, including winning orders for large-scale employee experience projects and receiving the highest satisfaction score after implementation. In April, IBM Japan became the first-ever certified Qualtrics reseller to provide one-stop support to customers implementing the industry-leading XM solutions from Qualtrics.

Ugam: All-In Partner of the Year – Asia Pacific & Japan

Ugam, a Merkle company, is a leading analytics and technology services company based in Mumbai. The company enables organisations to make informed business decisions by leveraging a proprietary big data technology platform coupled with the firm’s analytics expertise.

Commending the expertise of the business technology partners, R.J. Filipski, Qualtrics Global Head of Ecosystem, said:

“The continued growth and innovation of the Qualtrics Partner Network push the boundaries of the Experience Management category. This year’s partner winners are leaders in their respective spaces and utilize their expertise and commitment to the customer to deliver ongoing value.”

The post Qualtrics Awards Outstanding Business Technology Partners in 2021  appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

Singapore-based Rolling Arrays established its partnership with SAP back in 2010, which then kick-started its years of experience in delivering consultation and implementation services for HR. With offices in countries including Malaysia, Hong Kong, Australia, UAE, and India, the certified SAP Gold Partner has a track record of delivering more than 200 HR transformation projects for over 100 blue-chip customers in Asia.

In 2020, the HR specialist set off as an implementation provider for SAP SuccessFactors in a bid to deepen its capabilities within the HR technology space at a regional level. This year, the company has become the first certified reseller and delivery partner for SAP-owned Qualtrics in SEA. Commenting on the latest partnership, Manu Khetan, Founder and CEO of Rolling Arrays, said:

“Our team of more than 150 consultants at Rolling Arrays are experts in recommending and implementing the right and best solutions for our customers. Qualtrics is the leader in experience management, and has continually demonstrated proven value in enabling organisations of all sizes and from all industries to continually improve the experiences delivered.”

“This combination of expertise and capabilities will help every organisation across Southeast Asia confidently respond and succeed in the changing world around us,” Khetan maintained.

With an increasing number of businesses and governments rethinking their customer and employee experience strategy during the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Qualtrics Experience Management Operating System (XM/OS) aims to provide them with the insights and capabilities to continuously develop and improve the experiences they deliver in their organisations. The new partnership with Rolling Arrays will assist companies in implementing Qualtrics solutions and help them expand and maximise the value of their investment. 

Strengthening Companies’ Customer and Employee Experience Strategy

Meanwhile, R.J. Filipski, Global Head of Ecosystem at Qualtrics, also highlighted the importance of XM to all organisations as every sector undergoes an experience transformation in response to changes heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic. Reflecting on the new collaboration with the HR solutions provider that helps attract, develop, and retain talent, he said:

“The partnership with Rolling Arrays is critical to Qualtrics’ ongoing expansion in Southeast Asia, and will equip our customers with more industry-leading support, expertise, and capabilities to build their next great customer, and employee experiences.”

Following Qualtrics’ commitment to hiring 1,200 additional employees across the broader Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ) region by 2024 as part of its plan to scale up operations and investments, the latest partnership with Rolling Arrays further reinforces Qualtrics’ growing presence in SEA. In addition, Qualtrics’ new data center in Singapore is anticipated to ensure data sovereignty and security requirements compliance for all governments and businesses across SEA as customers in the region continue to grow.

Looking forward to combining Rolling Array’s technology implementation expertise and extensive HR advisory capability to deliver Qualtrics’ holistic XM solutions to customers in SEA, Philip Wixon, Chief Operating Officer at Rolling Arrays said:

“I am very pleased to read SAP’s announcement of Rolling Arrays’ recent enablement as a Qualtrics implementer for our customers across the region. Monitoring and measuring employee experience is the next frontier of engaging with employees and Qualtrics is the market’s leading XM solution.”

The post Qualtrics, Rolling Arrays Boost Customer and Employee Experience Strategy in SEA appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

A few months after its official trading in Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “XM”, Qualtrics has been gaining momentum as organisations across various industries worldwide strive to deliver enhanced customer and employee experience during the pandemic. The XM company has been helping organisations and governments mitigate the impact of COVID-19 in many aspects– from managing the logistics of vaccine roll-out in key cities to empowering HR leaders to expedite the process of employee data gathering for a better engagement experience.

To continue to support the increasing demand for XM solutions and the growing market in the APJ region, Qualtrics has announced that it will be scaling up operations and investments. Aside from launching a new data centre in Singapore and APJ headquarters in Sydney, the experience management software-as-a-service (SaaS) vendor targets a total of 1,200 hires by 2024, a significant investment since its launch in 2015. The workforce expansion will cover all departments including sales, professional services engineering, operations, customer success, and marketing across Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, Japan, South Korea, India, and Hong Kong.

Sharing about the company’s regional push, Zig Serafin, CEO of Qualtrics, said:

“Organisations around the world are in the middle of an experience transformation –– and there is a massive market and category opportunity ahead of us.

We see this as some of the best organisations in the world – like Atlassian, Standard Chartered, Clarins, and Mitsubishi Electric – are using Qualtrics to retain and engage their employees, and to find new customers and keep the ones they already have. Experience data is becoming the most valuable data within an organisation, and Qualtrics has a 10-year head start in this market.”

He further stressed that Qualtrics’ growth strategy in the region will essentially support the APJ customers in delivering great customer, employee, product, and brand experiences in the future.

Qualtrics Managing Director in APJ Brigid Archibald further emphasised the company’s commitment to helping customers succeed in their experience management journey. She said:

 “To help our customers succeed in this age of experience transformation, Qualtrics is committed to continually investing in and expanding our local operations. In the last year alone in Asia Pacific and Japan, we have established teams in entirely new countries for the first time, announced a new data centre, relocated to a larger regional HQ, and highlighted our intention to rapidly scale our local team. 

“As a result, Qualtrics continues to lead the way in equipping businesses and governments with the tools, services, expertise, and support needed to design new experiences for our evolving world, and then continuously improve them,” added Archibald.

Investing in APJ

Qualtrics has made several noteworthy investments in the Asia Pacific Region as part of its expansion strategy. In preparation for the expansion, the XM company has moved to a new APJ HQ in Sydney early this year following the formal launch of its operations in Hong Kong, South Korea, and India in 2020. In addition, Qualtrics’ new data centre in Singapore is anticipated to ensure data sovereignty and security requirements compliance for all governments and businesses across Southeast Asia as the customers in the region grow.

Qualtrics also strengthened its management team by appointing Jason Laufer to Managing Director for ANZ, John Seo to Managing Director for Korea, and Navneet Narula to Managing Director for India. 

Leveraging Qualtrics XM Solutions

Global enterprises in the APJ region have been leveraging Qualtrics XM solutions to enhance both customer and employee experience and engagement. 

Enhancing Employee Engagement

Australian software company Atlassian turned to Qualtrics to regularly capture significant insights from its 5,000+ employees worldwide, enabling the organisation to continuously improve employee experience and consequently, deliver business results, improve talent acquisition and enhance productivity. 

Mitsubishi Electric, a global leader in the manufacture and sales of electrical and electronic equipment, is partnering with Qualtrics to better understand the value of employee engagement as well as observe and look into shorter-term trends. 

Improving Customer Experience

Leading global bank Standard Chartered intends to grow its customer base by utilising the Qualtrics Experience Management Operating System. The XM software empowers organisations by giving them access to customer experience data for analysis, allowing them to use workflows to take action. Standard Chartered also tapped Qualtrics for its global employee engagement program that enables its managers to act on real-time insights including employee life cycle.

French luxury skincare and cosmetics global company Clarins has partnered with Qualtrics to gain visibility on its customer experience across in-store and online channels for 9 markets in the Asia Pacific. Seeing the value of digital experiences, Clarins has extended the Quatrics platform deployment to EMEA.

The post Qualtrics XM Market in APJ to Gain from Massive Workforce Expansion appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

Power International Holding, which started out as a contracting company, is a diversified business conglomerate, with over 41,000 employees. Today it is a multi-disciplinary group that continues to expand globally. The group’s portfolio sits across five main sectors:

• General Contracting
• Agro-Food Industries
• Real Estate Development
• Lifestyle (Hospitality, Entertainment & Catering)
• General Services

Power International Holding deals with highly intricate and diverse business processes across these five sectors—this presented significant operational challenges to the group, which had been implementing different systems across its companies before it selected SAP solutions from SAP SuccessFactors software and SAP S/4HANA.

Now, according to Ahmed El Zeftawy, Power International Holding’s chief human resources officer, with SuccessFactors and S/4HANA, the group is better equipped in achieving its goals of driving more agile and efficient operations across all its business functions. He explains:

“We are delighted with what we have achieved through working with SAP. The solutions help us achieve our vision of becoming a model conglomerate.”

Improving Human Experiences with SuccessFactors and S/4HANA

According to a report by SAP, since Power International Holding implemented solutions from SAP SuccessFactors software for its human resource management platform, it has successfully digitalized 100 percent of its HR processes.

Other HR improvements that the group was able to achieve with SuccessFactors include:

• streamlined payroll processing
• modernized workforce management
• 90{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} increase in operational excellence
• increased accuracy and speed of HR reporting
• automation of performance-based bonuses

Power International Holding has also been able to significantly enhance employee experience by 90{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}. Moreover, with the global COVID-19 pandemic still at large, the group is now able to deliver exceptional remote working experiences to its more than 41,000 employees. Its modernized HR platform that leverages solutions from SuccessFactors software provides an intuitive, easy-to-use portal that can be accessed by employees online or on mobile.

According to SAP, 75 percent of the group’s HR processes are directly integrated with SAP S/4HANA to ensure a highly-functional and automated process across all its business units. 

SAP S/4HANA is SAP’s next-generation enterprise resource planning system with built-in intelligent technologies, including AI, machine learning, and advanced analytics that runs on SAP HANA—an in-memory database that simplifies data models.

Jasim Abdul Rahman, Power International Holding’s group chief information officer comments:

“Our HR and ERP processes are intertwined, so it makes sense to manage them according to the same best practices.”

About Power International Holding

Power International Holding was founded by Moutaz Al-Khayyat and Ramez Al-Khayyat.

Companies within Power International Holding’s portfolio are held by four main subsidiaries: UCC Holding, Baladna Q.P.S.C, ASSETS Real Estate Development, and Aura Group.

The group’s projects include: Mall of Qatar, Banana Island, Lekhwiya Stadium, and the Doha Sheraton Hotel and Convention Centre in Qatar; the Waldorf Astoria hotel in the Maldives and; the 23-storey residential Baywalk Tower in The Pearl-Qatar.

Power International Holding is also the parent company to Baladna Food Industries (listed on the Qatar Stock Exchange).

The post Power International Holding leverages SuccessFactors software to transform HR appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

With the global health crisis compelling businesses to embrace digital technologies to survive, thrive, and reach out to consumers, business leaders can take into account the recent Qualtrics survey results when mapping their strategy during and post-pandemic.

Following the release of the Qualtrics survey on consumer behaviors and expectations of brands they engage with during a pandemic, the Experience Management company’s latest survey results highlighted the consumers’ preference for e-commerce in the time of COVID-19.

“After months of disruption, we are beginning to see new behaviours and preferences emerge that are likely to remain post-pandemic. There is no doubt that there has been a massive shift towards digital, making it critical for brands to ensure they are able to optimise the experience they deliver on their digital channels including mobile applications,” said Qualtrics Southeast Asia head of CX solutions strategy Harish Agarwal.

“Simultaneously, even though consumers are beginning to go back to some previous habits, high levels of ambiguity remain, meaning businesses must be able to understand and quickly respond to changing environments. Businesses can deal with this ambiguity using tools like Qualtrics to get an “always-on” and integrated understanding of their customer experience across touchpoints, equipping them with end-to-end insights to continually deliver superior customer experience,” Agarwal further explained.

In this article, we look into the Philippines and Singapore consumers’ preferences during the pandemic and in the coming months. Over 300 respondents were surveyed in each country.

Filipinos Switching to Digital

Though 94{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of the respondents are still very concerned by the pandemic, the Filipino consumers have quickly adapted to utilising online platforms since COVID-19 hit the country.

• 67{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of the respondents have purchased more online, which is evident in the frequency increase of online banking (62{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22})
• 55{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of respondents said that visit to retailers have been lessened, reflecting an increase for online grocery shopping (53{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22})
• 76{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of Filipino consumers said they will continue online shopping over the next six months
• 47{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of the respondents still prefer food pick up versus dining in despite the 50{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} increase for dine-in capacities of restaurants in general community quarantine (GCQ) areas and 75{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} in modified GCQ areas in the country

Looking at the next six months, 40{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} said it is likely they will choose to eat at a restaurant; 37{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} were planning to take a family holiday; 36{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} said they are ready to use public transport. For air travel, Filipinos are still quite ambiguous about it saying it’s unlikely they will travel internationally (57{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}) or domestically (54{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}).

The number of people in the Philippines expecting COVID-19 to affect their day-to-day life for more than a year has increased to 45{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} (up from 40{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} in June 2020).

Singaporeans Embracing E-Commerce

Commenting on Singaporeans’ behavior during the pandemic, Agarwal said:

“Even though Singaporeans are beginning to go back to some previous habits, high levels of ambiguity remain, meaning businesses must be able to understand and quickly respond to changing environments.”

The recent Qualtrcis survey revealed that consumers in the city-state are embracing e-commerce. 

• 57{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of the respondents have purchased more online and have used online banking
• 47{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} said they visit retailers less, reflecting an increase in shopping for groceries online (44{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22})
• 73{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of surveyed Singaporeans said they will continue shopping online even after six months
• 56{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} still prefer picking up their food order instead of dining in restaurants

In the next six months, contrary to the Philippines survey results, a higher percentage of the Singaporean respondents are willing to eat at a restaurant (58{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}) and are most likely to use public transport (61{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}). However, more than 60{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of the respondents said they are not ready to travel by air, a bit higher than the Philippines’ number.

The number of Singaporeans expecting COVID-19 to affect their everyday lives for more than a year has also doubled to 37{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} from May 2020.

The post Qualtrics Survey Reveals the Need to Find the Best E-Commerce Solution appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

SAP encourages participants to emphasize new ways of thinking to set new and improved benchmarks for their industries and “make the world run better.”

According to SAP, submission of entries runs from 15th September 2020 midnight SGT to 15th December 2020 midnight SGT. Selection of finalists by SAP Best Run Awards panelists will take place from 15 December 2020 to 1 February 2021—three finalists per category will be announced. 

The finalists’ entries will be assessed from 1 February 2021 to 26 February 2021. Winners will be announced March 2021.

Celebrating Business Transformation with SAP Solutions

SAP says that customers across Southeast Asia that have successfully deployed a business application that utilizes SAP solutions (software products, cloud-based service, or other technologies) can submit entries for any two out of the six award categories.

The six SAP Best Run Awards categories include:

• Best Innovation Award – The Disruptor: Recognizes emerging enterprises with a strong culture of innovation and have utilized one or more SAP solutions to seek creative solutions, innovate, and embrace technology to transform their businesses.​
• Best Customer Experience Management – The X Factor: Recognizes organizations that demonstrate a Customer-First approach & mindset and have seamlessly created a customer experience through digital transformation.​
• Emerging Enterprise Award (SMEs) – The Small but Mighty: Recognizes small and mid-size enterprises with 50 employees and below that drive consistent, significant, and sustainable growth; and display the ability to scale and expand overseas.​ 
• Most Transformational Award – The Game Changer: Recognizes mid-to-large enterprises with over 50 employees that drive a change management within the complexities of large corporates from different lines of businesses.
• Most Promising Startup or Entrepreneurship Award (SAP.iO) – The Rising Star: Recognizes startups that have worked with SAP to provide value-added services to our customers and built a unique and commercially viable and sustainable idea.
• Most Promising Next Generation Leaders – The Trailblazer (Individual Award): Recognizes the next generation leaders in their capacity who have overcome challenges or is a pioneer in its field, creating an impact on leading their organizations, businesses to scale greater heights. ​

The SAP Best Run Awards SEA presents an opportunity for participants to extend their organization’s publicity and marketing mileage. Winners’ business success stories will be shared by SAP with its partner ecosystem and various SAP platforms. 

The winners, as well as finalists, will receive trophies and certificates. Furthermore, the six category winners will receive a total donation of USD30,000 collectively made in their name to the ASEAN Foundation. 

SAP South East Asia’s President & Managing Director, Verena Siow said,

“Peer to peer learning from the best in the industry is essential to innovating for the future. We are pleased to launch the inaugural SAP Best Run Awards for Southeast Asia to recognize the achievements and innovations by organizations across the region and capture their transformative stories so that cross-industry peers can learn from one another.”

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After a successful 8 months as the country manager for Australia and New Zealand, Qualtrics promotes Brigid Archibald to regional managing director for the Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) region. 

Citing Archibald’s impressive performance in Australia and New Zealand, CEO and co-founder Ryan Smith said he looked forward to seeing Archibald take over the continued rapid growth of Qualtrics across the APJ region:

“Since joining Qualtrics to lead our ANZ business Brigid has had an incredible impact. Her contributions have helped the region consistently exceed expectations and cement Qualtrics’ position as the leader in experience management. Qualtrics is relentlessly focused on helping organizations get back to business the right way by uncovering the insights they need, and we are incredibly excited to have Brigid lead the way in APJ.”

Qualtrics XM Growth in APJ Region

Qualtrics first opened its APJ regional headquarters in Sydney, Australia back in 2015. At the time the experience management company was serving 250 customers and only had a handful of employees. By 2016 though, this number significantly grew and surpassed 1,000 customers—resulting in three more offices and a data center opening in the country. As the demand for XM solutions in Southeast Asia and East Asia grew, offices in Singapore and Tokyo were opened in 2017.

After Qualtrics was acquired by SAP for $US8 billion in January 2019, Qualtrics APJ has become the fastest-growing market for the company. Today it serves more than 1200 customers, employs approximately 160 people, and has eight offices in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, India, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia.

The rise of Qualtrics in the APJ region has been nothing short of remarkable. The XM solutions provider counts industry leaders Cathay Pacific, GOJEK, Samsung SDS, Fuji Xerox, Sony, Yamaha, Qantas, Chobani and Volkswagen Group Austalia as customers.

Part of its growth strategies in the region included significant and ongoing investments in expanding operations and expertise across APJ. In 2019, Qualtrics APJ doubled the size of its regional workforce. Several senior appointments were made in the same year: three appointments to its Research Services & Strategy team and two to its Employee Experience (EX) product.

Qualtrics’ recent partnership agreements with multinational professional services provider Ernst & Young (EY) and leading South Korean IT service provider Lotte Data Communication (LDCC) is another proof of the company’s commitment to accelerate the digital and XM transformations of businesses across the APJ region. 

With Archibald’s appointment as MD for Qualtrics APJ, the company expects that the support needed by businesses in the APJ region to improve experience management across the four pillars of business—customer, employee, brand, and product—will be further reinforced, strengthening Qualtrics’ position at the forefront of the experience management category even more.

Before joining Qualtrics in 2019, Archibald held positions at Salesforce, American Express, HP, Compaq, Digital Equipment Corporation, AT&T and NCR.

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Yahoo Finance reported that Knoa Software, one of the leading providers of user experience management (UEM) software. The company has announced in early February that they will be supporting the SAP S/4 HANA migrations and maintaining the momentum for the SAP User Experience Management. It will be done through cloud-based Knoa deployments. The support provided by Knoa later resulted in a boost in cloud revenue for the company.

Customers have confirmed that they have received a return on investment (ROI) and have also documented their success.

One of their successful deployments includes the AES Corporation, a Fortune 500 company. AES Corporation’s business involves the generation and distribution of electricity on a global scale.

At the ASUG held on October 3, 2019, AES has shared how they leveraged the SAP User Experience Management application by Knoa, which was running on SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud, in accelerating the migration of its existing ERP systems to SAP S/4 HANA. It has helped AES in building the foundation for its digital transformation project.

AES Corporation needed an advanced analytics application that will help them define their migration priorities. They also needed an efficient tool to isolate existing redundancies and to enforce standards that will govern the new system. Following the migration, the company shared how they have streamlined their deployment time, reduced and managed costs, and boosted user adoption. 

Another company that benefited from the Knoa deployments is AGL, electricity, gas, solar, and renewable energy specialist based in Australia. Their customer base includes homes and businesses.

AGL’s energy accounts make up approximately 20{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of Australia’s electricity generation. The company utilise data-driven insights in developing employee training and improving customer interactions for its business applications.

Recently, a premier global market intelligence firm, IDC, leveraged the SAP UEM by Knoa in conducting an extensive study of organisations. In their study, they showed how organisations achieved significant ROI for their business with SAP UEM by Knoa. Some of the results include five months of payback period, 30{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} more efficient management of business processes, and 15{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} average gross productivity gain.

The CEO of Knoa, Brian Berns, shared that SAP UEM by Knoa continues to drive the productivity of employees and facilitate SAP S/4 HANA migrations. They also want to continue supporting SAP’s focus on experience management.

Berns proudly shared how their customers have confirmed the value of the Knoa solution and have shared their excitement following Knoa’s validation.

He also added:

“The SAP S/4HANA customer base is extensive, so we hope to see significant growth in 2020.”

SAP UEM by Knoa aims to deliver enterprises complete visibility of employee interactions with the SAP enterprise software for enterprises. It highlights the application usage, measures user adoption, and engagement levels, and also provides insights to improve process and workflow.

This efficient tool has helped organisations from various industries and locations as they make a move to the SAP S/4 HANA and the SAP HANA database.

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