With the recent Goods and Services Tax (GST) hike that kicked in on Jan 1 and the ongoing inflation, the rising cost of living is a major concern for many Singapore residents. For businesses, it is no different.
Unprecedented headwinds over the past two years -- pandemic, war, labour and supply chain challenges, inflation -- are making it much more expensive to run a business. Coupled with consumers being more cost-conscious this year, businesses are under pressure to reduce costs and increase efficiency. Many companies are turning to automation and cloud technology to drive immediate value across all departments; this includes scale, improving service levels and resilience, without adding cost.
Parallels between the start of the pandemic and this new phase of global uncertainty are striking. Companies which accelerated their digital transformation during the public health crisis were able to pivot quickly and come out stronger. The same applies today.
According to Accenture research, ‘Leader’ businesses doubled down on their tech investment during 2020 and 2021. As a result, they are now growing five times faster than ‘Laggard’ businesses.
The research also identified a new group of ‘Leapfrogger’ businesses or those that targeted over twice as many processes for digital transformation during the pandemic. Leapfrogger businesses are now growing four times faster than Laggards and closing the gap on Leaders.
Enterprises are increasingly embracing digital technologies to help them navigate the growing economic turbulence we are experiencing today. This rapid digitalisation will only continue. Southeast Asia’s digital economy was estimated to hit US$200 billion in the total value of transactions in 2022, three years earlier than projected. By 2030, the digital economy could potentially reach US$1 trillion, provided that it can unlock its full potential in a sustainable way.
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In today’s high-cost environment, leaning into digital investment is an essential enabler for driving efficiency and profitability, whilst boosting innovation and ensuring competitive advantage.
Success now means connecting with customers in new, simpler and more cost-effective ways. It means consolidating and reducing complexity and automating workflows across their technology stack.
Automation as a strategic asset
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Forrester predicts that the robotic process automation (RPA) market will grow to $22 billion by 2025. North America and Western Europe currently account for 63% of the revenue distribution, but Asia Pacific is catching up fast. The impact of growing automation investment is profound, affecting the way we work and serve customers.
These developments have spurred major global manufacturers and retailers to rethink supply chain management, by leveraging AI and machine learning to effectively manage rising supplier prices, and determine how best to meet customer purchasing preferences.
The customer experience journey is also being scrutinised further, as companies look to create differentiated customer experiences across every interaction to stay competitive. For retailers, this means infusing digital across the entire physical and virtual shopping journey to deliver seamless and personalised experiences.
From setting up self-service technologies to reduce the cost of customer support to driving productivity for a sales or marketing team to get better at measuring ROI, we can expect to see a greater focus on data, analytics, and AI as economic turbulence continues. Yet, only by working on one trusted platform in real-time — giving every employee a single shared view of the customer - can organisations expect to drive higher levels of productivity and customer loyalty at a lower overall cost to serve.
Ninja Van, one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing tech-enabled logistics companies, is another example. Using Salesforce Customer 360, Ninja Van was able to optimise and automate their sales processes and make crucial data easily accessible across both regional and local teams, which helped to drive greater productivity. As a result, they were able to achieve a 3 to 5 times increase in sales activities per agent, and improve conversion rates by three-fold.
Our customers across different industries, from vaccine distribution management to call centre operations, have seen first-hand the power of technology to deliver innovative services, and drive efficiencies and cost-effectiveness. According to a Salesforce survey of over 3,500 customers, organisations are seeing, on average, an estimated 25% savings on IT costs and a 26% increase in employee productivity using Salesforce.
Our recent work with Singapore’s leading music school, Aureus Academy, is another example. The music school uses data to tailor its lessons for each student versus using a standard curriculum. Their existing systems made reporting and analysis at scale challenging as they grew.
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To continue growing their business, Aureus Academy turned to Salesforce to provide a single view of their customer, automate and manage workflows easily and use the data to analyse and take action. By automating their billing processes, more than 97% of accounts receivable are collected in the first three days of the month.
Aureus Academy also automated lesson scheduling and now sees over 15,000 monthly scheduling events managed within the app and directly by students. Since adopting Salesforce, the school has increased its revenue by over 300%
It is through these kinds of experiences that businesses will look to drive customer and employee loyalty and help protect the bottom line.
Building better resilience
In the digital economy, the businesses that adapt to changes quickest will thrive. As disruption continues, CEOs who previously delegated their digital strategy want to take direct leadership today.
From business performance, employee skills preparedness, societal equity to climate change, technology is fundamental to driving efficiencies and smarter implementation in all these areas.
Although we cannot predict the future, we can be strategic and build better resilience. We must rethink our approach to efficiency at every level, in every department. We must commit to continuous innovation to solve customers’ problems, ensuring seamless service from anywhere, and adapting to customers’ changing priorities. This in turn will provide opportunities for success in the long term.
Sujith Abraham is the senior vice president and general manager for Salesforce Asean
