As businesses slowly ease into the new normal, including creating marketing strategies and roadmaps for the future of commerce, Qualtrics’ recent survey on consumer behavior during the pandemic in the Philippines and Singapore gives organisations critical insights on the pulse of the market in these changing times.

The recent Qualtrics study relates to the last study conducted by Qualtrics in May 2020, which outlines the biggest drivers of brand trust following the COVID-19 pandemic and how consumers want to be engaged. In Qualtrics’ latest study, the actions brands are taking continue to have a significant impact on consumers regardless of the changes in restrictions due to the pandemic.

Lisa Khatri, Research and Brand Experience Lead for Qualtrics in APJ said:

“Being able to identify, understand, and respond to rapidly changing expectations is business-critical during the pandemic, and long after it. The fact that preferences toward the message and the medium have changed and yet the importance of actions remains hugely important reveals brands cannot afford to stand still in how they engage consumers. 

As we move forward through the pandemic preferences and attitudes will continue to shift. This is why it is hugely important businesses use technology like Qualtrics to have an “always on pulse” of consumer sentiment and behavior tracking. Insights delivered by Qualtrics help identify the lead indicators businesses need to design and deliver the brand communications and experiences people want, and which ultimately cultivate the trust needed to succeed.” 

In this article, we will take a look at how the consumer behaviors, preferences, and expectations from brands they engage with shifted during the first 6 months of the pandemic in the Philippines and Singapore.

The Philippines Consumer Pulse

95{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of the Philippines consumers said that brand actions impact trust in the time of a crisis. The drivers of the brand trust are consistent with May 2020 Qualtrics’ research and these are:

• (41{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}) Not taking advantage of a crisis to maximise profits remains the most important 
• (40{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}) Maintaining reasonable pricing
• Taking care of customers (34{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}) and employees (23{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22})

A Shift in Communication and Engagement Platforms

The survey revealed a significant shift in communication preferences, messages, and engagement platforms in the Philippines.

The top brand communications people expect today are updates on the brand’s response to the pandemic and messages on safety and hygiene protocols. Information into products and services is down one place to the third most desired message, (50{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}). Sales and promotion emails (45{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}) and information on reward programs are next in the consumers’ preferences.

Facebook (84{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}) remains the most popular engagement platform followed by online media (63{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}), email (56{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}), and TV advertising (51{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}).

Singapore Consumer Pulse

In the city-state, more than 90{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of consumers agreed that during a crisis brand actions impact trust. Similar to Singapore’s response in May 2020 and comparable the to Philippines’ consumer response, the drivers of the brand trust in the country are:

• (40{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}) Not taking advantage of a crisis to maximise profits remains the most important 
• (37{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}) Maintaining reasonable pricing 
• Taking care of customers (32{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}) and employees (27{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22})

A Shift in Communication and Engagement Platforms

The top message that Singaporeans expect from brands today is sales and promotion via emails (52{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}), which has shown an 11{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} increase from May 2020. The other messages that make up the top 5 messages consumers want are information into products and services (47{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}), safety and hygiene protocols (43{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}), and reward programs (41{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}).

As for the preferred engagement platform, Singaporeans are increasingly choosing email (60{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}), followed by Facebook (47{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}), and Whatsapp (45{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}). The study revealed that consumers are moving away from traditional broadcast (19{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}) and online media (38{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}), which showed a significant drop versus last May.

*Qualtrics surveyed 328 Singaporeans and 328 Filipinos (aged 18-65) in early September 2020.

The post Qualtrics Surveys Consumer Behavior During a Pandemic in PH and SG appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is an organisation that delivers business solutions, consultancy, and global IT services. They have recently announced through PR Newswire that it had completed the digital transformation of its finance operations for Ayala Land. TCS handled the migration to SAP S/4 HANA, which is the first in the Philippines.

With its business expanding with its diverse subsidiaries, ALI was seeking for an agile and responsive finance platform that will cater to the growing user base. With this, ALI partnered with TCS to help simplify the company’s operations while accelerating it with cloud-led digital transformation.

TCS shared that its in-depth understanding of the business processes and their excellent SAP S/4 HANA capabilities were the main contributors that helped the real estate firm. The expected results were improvements to its time to market and the ability to meet the scalability required to reach its business goals.

The transformation built a strong foundation for ALI to consolidate its subsidiaries onto a single platform that will successfully integrate the business operations. The result of the initiative was up to 80{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} faster processing time and improved visibility of cash positions for more effective business operations.

Annie Alipao, the Chief Information Officer of Ayala Land Inc., shared that the initiative aligns with the company’s strategy to emphasise their business goals by identifying the flaws in the existing systems. She has also noted acknowledging the issues with the database size, manualised business processes, and performance. In her statement, she also praised TCS for their experience, insights, and skills in managing the complex transformation process.

Akilesh Tiwari, the Global Head for Enterprise Application Services of Tata Consultancy Services, talked about how the conversion will benefit ALI in terms of optimising and driving standard process adherence that will improve the scalability and system performance. He added:

“TCS’ comprehensive portfolio of end-to-end services will go a long way to ensure ALI maximises business value from their technology investments and will help it achieve greater business agility and operational excellence.”

Shiju Varghese, the Country Head for TCS Philippines, shared that the consultancy firm is delighted to be the real estate firm’s partner in its digital transformation journey. He added:

“Our pre-configured industry solutions, tools, and accelerators along with contextual knowledge and use of industry best practices have been instrumental in ensuring speed and success of this implementation.”

It is important to note that early this year, ALI was one of the companies in the Philippines that announced plans to make the shift to the cloud to improve its operations. The cloud-led transformation to SAP S/4 HANA is expected to bring about seamless finance operations and flexibility to drive new revenue and profits.

The post Ayala Land: 1st SAP S/4 HANA Transformation in PH appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

The constructions are said to be the first phase of the project. A planned community which will be referred to as the ‘New Clark City’ is expected to solve the problems of the country’s capital.

The Global Peace Index of the Institute of Economics and Peace (IEP) revealed that the Philippines is one of the most vulnerable countries when it comes to climate change. 

Similarly, New Clark City will provide an opportunity to make the entire country more resilient to natural calamities.

Rising need for smarter cities

‘Smart cities’ are expected to provide citizens a better quality of life by building a cleaner and more convenient environment. It includes the use of information and communication technologies for energy, transportation, and utilities. These resources help reduce wastage, consumption and overall costs.

The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration (PAG-ASA), Philippines experiences more tropical cyclones than anywhere else in the world with an average of 20 entering the territory every year. 

Smart Cities in the Philippines are not impossible

All the capabilities of smart cities are nothing like the fictional future. SAP has completed projects that can attest to the possibility of building smart cities.

For example, Relief.io, SAP’s social venture, offers an activity planning app that can be accessible to any platform for NGO’s. Relief.io uses a tool that utilises machine learning to support the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN ONCHA).

Smart Cities in the Philippines are not too far ahead. Smart technologies can help build the road towards better economic standards and resiliency.

The post Could Smart Cities in the Philippines be a Reality? appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

SAP, a global leader in application software, is encouraging the local government units in the city of Davao to leverage technology that can boost processes and improve the delivery of services to their local communities.

SAP Philippines introduced the enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, S/4 HANA, with its goal of establishing Smart Cities in mind. The said software can consolidate real-time data to be used for immediate decision-making.

Virna Naomi Venturanza of the SAP Corporate Affairs said:

“Instead of writing the reports, you will just be downloading it and decide. The leaders can make more strategic decisions because the operations and processes are smarter. The manual process will be lessened so the people can focus on other tasks needed to run a city.”

Edler Panlilio, managing director for SAP Philippines, shared how S/4 HANA can help local governments achieve smarter operations. He also shared the possibility of integrating technologies like artificial intelligence and blockchain, as well as storing big data.

He said:

“Blockchain is also something that you can put to the LGUs like when you start tracking assets at certain milestones from the design phase, production phase, down to the operational phase, you are able to detect those milestones. It is being used in banks also.”

Panlilio also said that data collected by the software could help government leaders in improving health coverage or providing education cluster, which can be used to create instructional materials for students. Additionally, he said that they are working to align their initiatives with the internet providers of the Philippines.

The LGUs in the city of Davao can available a subscription of the software’s cloud.

The post SAP Encourages Tech in the City of Davao appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

The Digital Disruption 2.0 was organised together with Quisumbing Torres Law Firm. Open forums on Digital Factory, E-Commerce, E-Health, EdTech, FinTech, Global and Local Digital Landscape, and Philippine Competitiveness were arranged.

With the theme, “Harnessing Digital Transformation in Driving Business Growth,” The Digital Disruption 2.0 Forum was organised to address the country’s digital transformation by accelerating innovation in the business sector.

The said forum covered initiatives that were essential for organisations to see and acknowledge the full potentials of digitalisation. It will catalyse the benefits that will impact the country’s economy as a whole.

In 2018, a joint study conducted by the International Data Corporation (IDC) and the World Bank revealed that approximately 40{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of the country’s gross domestic products (GDP) would come from digital products or services by the year 2020.

ECCP president, Nabil Francis, included the data in his welcome remarks. He added:

“In providing a platform for business leaders, digital experts, policymakers, and academe to converge, we are confident that today’s discussions will help organizations be ready for digital impacts and bridge the gaps in digital skills.”

Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Assistant Secretary for Administration, Ivin Ronald Alzona, said in his keynote speech:

“We encourage businesses to partner with digital workers and entrepreneurs to ensure that there is inclusive growth, not only in the countryside but also in the ICT sector.”

The forum was led by ECCP Executive Director Florian Gottein and welcomed more than 200 guests and speakers from various companies and associations such as the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines, UnionBank of the Philippines, Digital Services Asia from Iron Mountain, Accenture Philippines, SAP Asia Pte Ltd and Lazada Philippines.

The post ECCP Held Forum for Digitalisation of PH Businesses appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

Built on the SAP BusinessObjects Cloud solution, the SAP Digital Boardroom provides a holistic 360 degree view of an organisation’s position in the market, using essential business intelligence embedded in the system. The SAP Digital Boardroom is designed to harmonise the view of company operations across all lines of business on multiple devices into a single unified view, enabling executives to see all aspects of their business at once, rather than in separate silos.

“This is a true business advantage all C-Suite executives need in the fast-moving digital economy,” said Scott Russell, president and managing director, SAP Southeast Asia.

“SAP Digital Boardroom gives senior management and C-Suite executives access to business data and analytics, allowing them to gauge their company’s standing in the market as compared to their competitors,” said Ryan Poggi, managing director, SAP Philippines.

“Personal business information such as financial performance, customer count, supplier system and more can be viewed almost immediately with real-time content, which are needed for faster and better decision-making.”

“Using the Digital Boardroom to address challenges in the digital economy, company executives can obtain comprehensive data-driven insights answering ad hoc questions and simulate the impact of ‘what-if’ scenarios to financials and operations,” said Poggi.

The post SAP Digital Boardroom delivers real-time KPI access to Philippines executives appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.