THE Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) region has always been exciting for investors. One of the biggest reasons for this is the rapid adoption of the latest technology by Asean member-economies.
As the manufacturing sector is inextricably tied to technology, careful attention should be paid to the four biggest technological trends of the moment—big data, cloud computing, mobility and social media —and how these will affect the region’s manufacturing industry.
Big Data promises to help companies glean valuable insights from data analysis and from its ability to help predict trends. This will help them stay ahead of the curve. As with cloud computing, Big Data requires the use of stable and powerful enterprise hardware to collect and analyze the massive influx of data.
Cloud computing has proven to be a massive boon to businesses with multinational operations, as is often the case with businesses that set up manufacturing centers in Asean while keeping other aspects of their businesses, such as the design and engineering teams, in other countries. Cloud computing ensures these teams working across different continents are completely synchronized with one another, reducing redundancies and improving productivity.
Interestingly, the Philippines’s rank in the Asia Cloud Computing Associations’ Cloud Readiness Index 2014 (CRI 2014) moved up two notches, making the country a dedicated improver in cloud readiness, thanks to strong cloud-friendly industries, such as the booming business-process outsourcing industry.
Mobility grew over the last two decades after personal computers became progressively smaller and more portable. However, most mobile devices on the market do not support enterprise applications and were designed for media consumption and entertainment rather than productivity. This has led to a demand for products built specifically for business users for maximizing productivity while retaining the mobility offered by portable devices. Two-in-one devices are rapidly becoming the primary choice for companies and employees as these devices have the features of a personal computer and the flexibility of mobile devices.
This can be seen in the manufacturing sector, which allows employees to perform stock-keeping and inventory management through real-time data updates. Powerful enterprise devices also allow users access to functions that require intense computing capabilities, such as modeling software for design and engineering.
Social listening tools driven by powerful computing capabilities of enterprise hardware became extremely important to research and development, especially in conjunction with the predictive and analytical capabilities offered by Big Data. Social media is thus one of the best ways of measuring customer reactions, allowing businesses to respond quickly and appropriately so as to keep customers happy.
With the right choice of technology, manufacturing enterprises can optimize productivity, reduce operational costs, improve customer experience and grow faster. A recent report from IDC predicts that intra-Asia trade for the manufacturing sector will continue to grow in 2015. Business leaders within Asean’s manufacturing industry are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of the latest technologies in enabling them to take full advantage of these business trends and are deploying them to great effect. IDC reported that 37 percent of Asia-Pacific manufacturers are already using Big Data and Analytics technologies to improve production quality management.
With these latest trends also comes the requirement for powerful enterprise-ready hardware. As such, manufacturers will look to the vendors that have the most reliable, cost-effective and powerful hardware to provide the computing capabilities they need to stay ahead of the curve. The Asean region is enjoying a surge in investor interest, but businesses will need to continue investing in the technology needed for these emerging technologies to maintain their competitive advantage.
Michael Ngan heads Lenovo Philippines Inc. The view in this edited version of Ngan’s article does not necessarily reflect that of the Businessmirror’s.