Digital transformation – prerequisite for companies to stay afloat in changing times
Forty per cent of the Sri Lanka businesses are not going to survive in the next 10 years owing to digital disruption taking place globally unless new technologies are incorporated into businesses to avert such a catastrophe, said the Chairman of the Federation of Information Technology Industry Sri Lanka (FITIS), Abbas Kamrudeen at the Digital Leadership Forum held at the Hilton Hotel Colombo this week.
He said the life span of the top 500 top companies in the US has been reduced drastically owing to digital disruption. “What is the chance of your business being affected by digital disruption in the next five years and what is the chance of a new competitor entering an established business and reducing the cost drastically like what Amazon does to retail companies in developed countries?” he asked. Mr. Kamrudeen further said that even companies with Human Resources (HR) management have now begun to adopt digital technology 20 times more than personnel manning such tasks. “We see a very high level of digital acceleration in Sri Lanka.” FITIS is an apex body that represent various ICT centres, software companies, telecom venders and system integrators in Sri Lanka.
Managing Partner Ernst and Young Advisory ASEAN and Malaysia, Chow Sang Hoe who made the keynote address on Digital Transformation said that employees in an organisation have to be persuaded to think differently to effect changes in an organisation.
Referring to a gambling organisation in Malaysia he said he was able to bring about a change for the better by persuading its hierarchy to listen to innovative ideas brought forward by its young employees. Innovation and inculcation are essential steps in an organisation to bring about a change. Referring to a big plantation industry in Indonesia, he said that they have switched over to using digital technology to spray their plants instead of using manual labour. Malaysia like Sri Lanka is still struggling to bring about a change in digital transformation technology, he said.
Meanwhile at a panel discussion it was revealed that many companies are not receptive to adopting modern digital technology as they feel more comfortable with their existing systems in place.