The Russian invasion of Ukraine is still far from over, but it is already clear that Ukraine has defended its independence and won the right to become a fully fledged member of the democratic world. This trajectory was further underlined in summer 2022 when Ukraine received official EU candidate nation status. Ukraine’s future prosperity is not just a matter of ending the war and moving toward membership of the European Union, however. Ahead lies the complex reconstruction of the country’s entire economy and national infrastructure. In order for this to succeed, there can be no return to pre-war conditions. Instead, Ukraine has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reinvent itself as one of the most modern nations on the planet. Thanks to the unprecedented support of Ukraine’s international partners, today’s ambitious visions for a new Ukrainian economy are entirely feasible. This will in all likelihood be a green economy at the cutting edge of the digital revolution. President Zelenskyy had already set Ukraine on the road to a digital future long before the horrors of Russia’s full-scale invasion. In the early days of his presidency in spring 2019, Zelenskyy identified digitalization as a national priority and vowed to create “a country […]

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Miguel Llorca . Corporate CIO, Torrent Group | Microsoft MVP & MCT, Enterprise Architect, Technology Strategist & Speaker. getty More than a decade ago, I used to comment at conferences that IT departments that were not integrated into the business strategy were doomed to extinction or outsourcing. Surely, we all have in mind that image from the past where the IT department was located in some basement of the building where the geeks "did their things" and "whatever they were asked to do." Even today, we usually find organizations where this IT area reports to the financial department as if it was a subarea or subdepartment. The problem with this isn’t that the IT department will disappear or be outsourced but that the very survival of the business could be in danger. The problem in these environments is continuing to talk about an IT area, which doesn’t make sense. Instead, the natural evolution leads us to consider an area of digital transformation that can help promote a change in the model in order to promote maximum integration in the business and business processes. In the past, the chief information officer (CIO) used to be seen as a purely technical […]

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getty There is no denying that social commerce has been growing at a breakneck pace globally. A $1.2 trillion industry , social commerce uses the power of social networks and communities to buy and sell goods. This new way of commerce has been pivotal in providing access and empowering those in parts of the world that may not have easy access to the most basic necessities. In Southeast Asia, social commerce is poised to be a $13 billion industry alone, and in Indonesia, where I sit, the industry has been growing by 55% annually . I believe that social commerce will be pivotal in not just transforming how micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) do commerce but critical in uplifting the economy and its people. To put it into perspective, being the fourth most populous country in the world, Indonesia’s MSMEs make up 61% of the country’s GDP . They are local business owners, many of whom are mothers and daughters. In fact, over 60% of the 37 million MSMEs were managed by women in tier-3 and tier-4 markets in 2018. The number may be even higher now, with almost 65 million MSMEs recorded as of 2021. These female […]

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Sanjib Sahoo, Chief Digital Officer of Ingram Micro Inc. Courtesy of White Fox PR Digital transformation’s impact goes well beyond technology and infrastructure, often altering the DNA of an organization, both its people and culture. When done correctly, it not only improves one’s business model but also positively impacts one’s brand — allowing the business to become both more client-centric and culture-rich. Too many business leaders fail to capture the full value from their digital strategy because they are not integrated with the brand and people strategy. Without this integration, leaders struggle to capture the value across the organization both internally with team members and externally with customers. This month I sat down with digital innovator Sanjib Sahoo, the Chief Digital Officer of $54 billion-dollar tech giant Ingram Micro Inc. to understand his approach to creating a more holistic approach to digital transformation. Soon Yu: What are businesses getting wrong with Digital Transformation? Sanjib Sahoo: In today’s world, companies need to distinguish themselves less and less by their products and more and more by their people and platforms. Digital transformation done right requires an organization to be both aggressively digital and amazingly human. So what do I mean by […]

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Blue Planet Studio via Getty Images CFOs facing economic headwinds as 2023 begins are keeping their focus on costs, looking to reduce discretionary spending as a potential recession continues to loom. This does not mean initiatives like digital transformation have fallen by the wayside, however: CFOs continue to view digital transformation as strategically important for their businesses. “Irrespective of what’s going on, it’s something that has to happen and still remains a priority,” said Marko Horvat, VP, research for Gartner, regarding how finance leaders are thinking about such initiatives. A recent study by Gartner found planning and sequencing finance transformation as well as setting a finance technology strategy roadmap were both among the top ten priorities for CFOs moving into 2023. But finance leaders are still facing challenges when it comes to moving forward with their digital transformation initiatives. There are definitely some cost and spending pressures associated with digital transformation, Horvat said. The “big challenge with CFOs is justifying the digital investments,” he said. “So how do you measure the digital return on what you’re getting?” Recession and tech spending trends A coming recession could change finance leaders’ strategies when it comes to digital investments or tech spending. […]

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SAP and Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform, are teaming to accelerate digital transformation to support their customers. This collaboration builds on the success of the longstanding SAP and AWS partnership by bringing together the technology, solutions, and flexibility that customers need to help them succeed in the digital economy. The companies have had a strategic relationship for more than a decade with thousands of customers. This technology-driven project and joint investment is significant in terms of bringing together two powerhouse engineering organizations to drive innovation and support customers’ journeys to becoming sustainable, intelligent enterprises. In fact, SAP is a signatory of Amazon’s Climate Pledge committing to net-zero carbon and has also accelerated its sustainability commitment to 2030. Entering the new year, the companies have prioritized delivering the value of RISE with SAP on AWS by providing customers with the ability to accelerate cloud adoption together with a world-class collection of innovation and extensibility services. This next milestone in the partnership includes: Use of a joint reference architecture to support complex customer requirements Joint marketing planning across multiple channels, such as conferences, SAP marquis and AWS events, as well as demand generation […]

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Summary Chevron Phillips Chemical (CPChem) uses advanced analytics software Seeq to make better data-based decisions, enabling a data-driven culture. At the Seeq Conneqt conference, Brent Railey, Manager of Data Science at CPChem, described how Seeq enabled a cultural shift at the company. CPChem was able to use Seeq to digitally transform the organization by improving collaboration and problem-solving to make faster data-based decisions. CPChem’s digital foundation team used the Seeq platform to help them view and understand the value of data and to enable their digital transformation, setting a foundation for CPChem’s digital transformation team. The software helped create a common framework for interacting with data across CPChem’s sites, and enabled collaboration across the organization. Seeq’s intuitive user design helped make adoption quick and time to insights faster. CPChem was able to solve problems that they could not solve before using Seeq. The Influence of Culture Chevron Phillips Chemical was established in 2000, as a joint venture between Chevron and Phillips 66. In 2000, when Chevron and Phillips combined their chemical business, the management style for each company was quite different. “Cultural differences exist in every organization, and culture is the invisible influence that drives behavior,” Mr. Railey told […]

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© Wayne Stadler Water resilience in the time of climate change is essential, but how can water utility providers better deliver this? Digital transformation is the key Many water utility providers have done well in beginning their digital transformation journeys. However, the extreme weather events seen in the past years bring to light the necessity for the sector to speed up its digital transformation journey if water utilities wish to continue delivering key water management services and water resilience. In 2022, the UK experienced its driest summer in 50 years The National Drought Group has recently announced measures and guidelines for water companies to “start planning now to manage potentially significant impacts next year ”. These events highlight the need for agility to respond better to the unprecedented challenges that lie ahead. Water is an industry eager to innovate and embrace digital transformation, and in 2023 this will be essential to driving efficiency, growth, and water resilience. Digital initiatives to prepare to deliver sustainable, resilient water services Implementing automation and process management is a great starting point that will allow the water utility sector to expand its digital initiatives and prepare to deliver sustainable, resilient water services in the […]

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In 2022, the Global Digital Health Forum hosted its first hybrid conference, gathering over 400 attendees in person and more than 1,000 virtually. While balancing catching up with friends and colleagues and attending sessions (the agenda was packed; watch recorded sessions until March here ) was difficult at times, I used the forum, as always, to reflect on the state of digital health and future trends and challenges. What remains constant is that technological innovation is moving quicker than we can implement it. For example, we are grappling with how to use artificial intelligence to improve health outcomes without introducing additional bias into health care. As we progress from digitizing (adapting processes and tools to digital technologies) to digital transformation (the process of revamping the health sector to maximize the benefits of using information and communications technology to improve service quality and efficiency), we need our enabling environments to keep up with the pace of rapidly changing technology. At the forum, equity , governance , and human resources stood out as important elements of ensuring this. You may think, “Has this author been living under a rock? We have been talking about these topics for years.” Indeed, we have. […]

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An award-winning Ukrainian e-government app and digital platform supported by the United States is accelerating Ukraine’s digital transformation – and it’s about to expand to more countries. At the World Economic Forum today, USAID Administrator Samantha Power met with Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov to discuss the next phase of USAID’s collaboration with Ukraine to advance digital transformation and help partner countries adopt platforms that better connect citizens with their government. Since the establishment of Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation (MDT) in 2019, USAID provided legal, financial, and technical assistance to develop Diia for Ukrainian citizens. Diia is a mobile application and online portal that opened up digital access to 120 government services and enables Ukrainians to engage with their government online in a one-stop-shop – from applying for benefits and government programs to paying taxes, accessing important documents, registering and running businesses, and providing identification and digital signatures. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Diia has also allowed Ukrainians to receive social support with government services closed in areas impacted by war, and has been used by displaced Ukrainians to access aid and other critical services. The app is the gold standard in e-government, […]

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