BEFORE shelling out too much money for technologies, companies should first identify their needs when executing their digital transformation plans, an expert has advised.
Stratpoint Executive Chairman Paco Sandejas, during a virtual event hosted by the Supply Chain Management Association of the Philippines (SCMAP) on Tuesday, stressed the importance of learning about the technologies that companies intend to use before purchasing them to avoid unnecessary spending.
“One of the big pieces of advice I’d like to give everybody is: do not fall in love with technology for technology’s sake,” he said.
“We have to focus on those real problems and plan carefully. Do not fall in love with just buying technology and then investing in the wrong things,” he warned.
What the companies need to do prior to investing is to identify areas in their operations that are currently done manually and can be digitized to improve productivity, Sandejas explained.
It is also a must to ensure that the company has the knowledge to use the technologies to be acquired so they will serve their purpose, he added.
In addition, Sandejas said it is also crucial for companies to find the “right trusted people” to advise the companies and avoid those technology providers who will sell a bunch of digital solutions that are not necessary for operations.
Trade Undersecretary Rafaelita Aldaba, meanwhile, noted that “digital technologies and innovation have played a crucial role in ensuring quick responses to the crisis,” adding such are key to ensuring resilience of the companies to “external shocks.”
Among the sectors that can benefit the use of technology include the production and supply chains, she said.
The trade official said that using smart manufacturing, for example, can boost productivity while reducing material and energy use. Incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) can also help in creating new products and services that can result in additional jobs and income generation, she said.
“As we enter the new normal, we would expect firms to tailor their production and supply systems to changing consumer behavior. And this would require agility in production and supply systems enabled by advanced technology and automated processes at the same time,” Aldaba said.
However, Aldaba flagged the low technology utilization in the local manufacturing industry.
Citing a survey, she said that 35 percent still handle documents using a paper-based approach. Over half of the companies also control and track manufacturing activities manually through the same approach.
She said 44 percent of the companies’ raw materials “are pulled into the shop floor via an unstructured request system” while 58 percent have “no manufacturing equipment connected to the network.”
As such, she urged further digital adoption among local companies.
“New technologies like AI are not here to destroy jobs or replace humans but to create new jobs and change what work looks like, augment human intelligence and skills and make our workplaces safer,” Aldaba concluded.