Digital Transformation should be integral to Business Strategy — MTI
By: Jananga Piyadasa
Tags: Sri Lanka, Consulting, Strategy, Covid 19, Digital Transformation

MTI Consulting, Sri Lanka’s leading management consultancy, recently concluded a brief study gathering views on Digital Transformation in Sri Lanka from CIOs, CTOs and CDOs of leading corporates in the country.

COVID-19 has resulted in a lifestyle, livelihood and economic disruption of a magnitude that nobody expected. Organizations have shifted to virtual modes of working, learning, interacting and collaborating making the pandemic a turning point for digital transformation of businesses.

This study presents the views shared by some of the top digital leaders in the country on key digital transformation trends that are shaping tomorrow’s possibilities, opportunities that will drive tangible business value, challenges in executing digital transformation initiatives and the top priorities and actions over the next 2–3 years.

Key Trends

Digital leaders believe there are four key trends driving the digital transformation agenda in the country;

Changing consumer behavior

The way how Sri Lankans purchase and consume products, services and information has been going through tremendous changes even before the pandemic, which was evident with the meteoric growth of social media and e-commerce.

However, the pandemic had accelerated the consumer’s digital adoption both as a medium of communication and purchase.

CIOs of several FMCG companies in Sri Lanka have mentioned that due to the surge in online orders, their key priority was to ensure relevant systems are in place to facilitate online purchasing, payments and delivery with ease by integrating with different partners such as banks and logistics companies.

Few CIOs in banks and financial services have witnessed a significant growth in both new sign-ups and transactions in their Internet Banking and e-wallets segments.

New normal of working — working from home or anywhere

COVID-19 pandemic transformed how companies operate due to mandatory lock-downs, social distancing rules and working from home norms.

Some CIOs and CTOs shared with us that they had robust systems in place to operate in an environment like this. However, this has created several challenges such as allowing access to centralized ERP, ensure secure authentication and access and network connectivity issues.

Few also highlighted that ensuring employee engagement and productivity in a virtual working environment is another challenge that they want to overcome.

Changing nature of competition

Competition in the digital age is entirely different from what companies have seen before, due to the rise of start-ups and unconventional players entering and trying to grab the market share from incumbents.

Even though true disruption is yet to be seen in Sri Lanka, bank and insurance CIOs have acknowledged the entry of telecom companies in financial services domain can be a key competitive threat unlike they have experienced before.

Emergence of new digital technologies

Digital leaders sight several emerging digital technologies driving digital transformation. This includes Cloud, Mobility, Data Science and Big Data, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning, Internet of Things (IoT), Robotics Process Automation (RPA), Cyber Security and Industry 4.0

However, there were 4 specific technologies that were highlighted by all our participants;

Cloud — Cloud transformation was identified as a key priority and many companies who had already invested in comprehensive ERP systems are now planning to transition in to Cloud based ERP systems, driven by the increasing flexibility and cost efficiencies it promises to generate.

Mobile — Due to growing smart phone penetration in the country, many corporates are attempting to deliver exceptional mobile experiences to their consumers. This range from m-commerce, targeted mobile advertising, mobile wallets and touchless airport kiosks that can be accessed via mobile phone QR codes.

RPA — Robotic Process Automation has been widely used by many of the participants to automate certain manufacturing processes in factory environments, from Apparel to FMCG and personal care. Also, some companies have employed RPA to transform their back-office operations.

Analytics — Analytics is another key priority for many Sri Lankan corporates. Both analytics and big data analytics are used by companies to analyze and predict consumer behaviors.

Even though other emerging technologies such as IoT, AI/ML, Blockchain are being used by some of the companies, they are still at very early or experimental stages.