Thai business ‘must transform faster to avoid digital disruption wave’

[snoop1130]

Thai business ‘must transform faster to avoid digital disruption wave’

By The Nation

 

Narain Chutijirawong, left, clients and industries director at Deloitte Thailand, and Viney Hora, a partner with Deloitte Consulting

 

Thai companies must speed up their digital transformation to avoid the impact of a wave of disruption within the next five years, warns a new report by Deloitte Thailand.

 

The Covid-19 crisis will accelerate that digital transformation, the report adds.

 

Ninety-one executives from several industries participated in the “Thailand Digital Transformation Survey” conducted last October. 

 

In Thailand, technology, media and telecommunications, and financial services are among the leading industries in moving towards digital transformation.

 

Only one-third of respondents said they were succeeding with their digital transformation, however.

 

The survey offered insights into the key challenges of companies facing the new era of digital disruption.

 

"Digital disruption has been changing the rules of the game, blurring the lines between industries and creating a need for dramatic efficiency gains across the board," said Narain Chutijirawong, clients and industries director at Deloitte Thailand.

 

"The impact of digital disruption is already here, so no surprise that the results of the survey show most businesses are aware and in fact, some have been engaging digital initiatives already," he added.

 

The report found that key purposes for digital transformation are enhancing end-user experience, transforming business processes and better utilising data.

 

However, all the companies surveyed reported only partial success in improving business performance through their digital transformation initiatives.

 

Deloitte identified “people issues” as the biggest challenge to digital transformation. In response, it advised companies to break down functional silos and build a digital mindset as well as employ the right people.

 

"Key challenges facing by digital transformation initiatives, whether relating to people or money, can be easily mitigated by having a clear vision and strategy. Executives need to clearly understand why and what they want to achieve, not just because of having to do it," said Viney Hora, a partner with Deloitte Consulting.

 

"For some, digital disruption will be explosive and immediate while for others less vulnerable to digital trends, the changes will be slower and more subtle. Still, digital innovation will be the cornerstone for future value creation,” he added.

 

The report also focused on the skills gap that needs to be filled to meet Thai companies’ digital ambitions. Data analysts and data scientists are considered crucial to efforts for digital transition, while AI and machine-learning specialists will become more influential in the near future.

 

The “Buy-Build-Borrow” model describes three ways of addressing the talent shortage.

 

The survey found that more than half of the respondents chose the short-term “Borrow” strategy – part-time, freelance and temporary workers – to fill their digital skill gaps.

 

However, digital transformation will require longer-term investment in human capital and collaboration with other stakeholders to upskill the workforce, it said.

 

The lack of investment in employee skills meant Thai companies are also falling behind in adoption of blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI) and the internet of Things (IoT), the survey found.

 

Meanwhile, tax incentives, easing regulations and well-established infrastructure are the most popular demands companies make on the government. Hence, said the report, the government should improve the digital business environment in Thailand by focusing on these issues, reforming education systems and emphasising the importance of data science skills.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/business/30393568?utm_source=category&utm_medium=internal_referral

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-08-26

 

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[rtco]

It is not in Thailand's nature to "transform faster" because of the heavy impact of country culture when trying to deliver change and transformation initiatives.

 

I finished a recent survey called the Cultural Dynamics that impact Change and Transformation in Asia which showed that Thailand was "out of step" when compared with the other countries surveyed. Thailand has a big issue with Face, Awareness of the need to Change and Consensus. These were not cited as being inhibitors by any of the other 13 countries that took part in the survey.

 

If you want to read the full survey just go to my website ... https://thehighwayofchange.com/surveys-and-papers/ ... it is the 2nd one down called "SURVEY RESULTS – THE CULTURAL DYNAMICS THAT IMPACT CHANGE AND TRANSFORMATION IN ASIA – 2020" 

 

So long as Thailand still approach Change and Transformation in the Nike way ... JUST DO IT ... it will continue to face problems with implementation.

[hotchilli]

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Deloitte identified “people issues” as the biggest challenge to digital transformation. In response, it advised companies to break down functional silos and build a digital mindset as well as employ the right people.

Thailand has a very closed gene pool from which to select the right people. That's why they are lagging behind the rest of Asia.

Thailands mindset is: keep out all foreigners who know better and keep everything for Thais.

Best of luck. 

[Isaan sailor]

Good luck, Thailand.  You’ll need it.

[Redline]

Most Thai websites don't even work properly.

The education system is gravely flawed.

People still have to make millions of copies for immigration~I lost my receipt, and they said my last visit was not in the computer system~2000 baht~corruption doesn't help.

Still millions of illegal, and out of date, operating systems in use.

 

Where does Thailand stand in AI, blockchain, and machine learning?

[Leaver]

On 8/27/2020 at 10:20 AM, hotchilli said:

Thailand has a very closed gene pool from which to select the right people.

Which is narrowed down even further when you take into account corruption, which sees that the best person for the job, doesn't get the job.  

[techietraveller84]

Is Thailand's lack of technology and everything that's modern some part of its charm?

[trevoromgh]

I'd suggest the lack of IT adoption and internet exploitation by Thai companies, and individuals for that matter, is a direct result of the Thai government discouraging the teaching and use of the English language for the last 8+ years.  As most IT hardware & software is written and taught with English as the primary language the lack of such a skill means the level of IT attainment demonstrated in Thailand is now obvious for everyone to see in the failing websites which are so full of holes no-one bothers to use them and when challenged you either get no reply or you are told to visit their office or shop instead thus defeating the whole purpose.  The way businesses here seem to think they can suggest they are IT literate is to use Facebook as some cheap solution to announce they have a 'web presence' which is a complete joke.

[Leaver]

On 9/1/2020 at 6:47 AM, techietraveller84 said:

Is Thailand's lack of technology and everything that's modern some part of its charm?

Some may say it was, until Thailand started charging western prices, whilst still with it's "lack of technology and everything that is modern's" charm.  ????