ICT as Business Enabler Drives ICT Landscape

In a presentation at the Canada Trade Mission to the Philippines in Makati Shangri-La, IDC Philippines country lead Jubert Alberto visualized a brighter future for the country as local firms utilize information and communications technology (ICT) as a business enabler more and more.

"ICT is the business enabler that would allow organizations to achieve business growth through business automation and usage of ICT as a competitive tool," said Jubert at the event organized by the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service and Canadian Embassy in the Philippines. IDC believes this is expected to provide quality customer experience, create new markets, and have competitive-edge innovation, which are all important goals of today's organizations.

About 60% of CIOs and decision makers plan to use ICT more aggressively in order to meet business goals. IT spending in the Philippines is expected to reach US$7.2 billion, 74% of which will be spent on hardware, which makes the country a hotbed for mobility and social technologies. Forecast growth of 10% for 2015 makes it a bright spot in the Southeast Asian market.

Organizations will magnify the power of the 3rd Platform technologies by integrating them. Industries that will change the quickest will be those that are selling directly to consumers such as retail (in which omni-channel initiatives will combine social, mobile, and Big Data technologies), banking (in which use cases of location intelligence and mobile technologies will enhance capabilities in precision marketing), and utilities (in which smart meters will rely on Big Data, cloud, and mobile technologies).

"The mashups of cloud, social business, Big Data and analytics, and mobile that we hinted at last year will continue to come together in the Philippines this year. The difference between those organizations that proceed with adoption and those that do not will become more pronounced, as the adopters will simply be more capable to engage with customers in a more personal way, deliver products and services faster, accelerate product-process-and-service innovation, and see greater business resiliency," said Jubert.

The modus operandi of the 3rd Platform will be disruptive innovation, and creating a unique, personalized experience for customers will be the standard in the local market. IDC sees that this will be the playing field for more nimble organizations typically born in the 3rd Platform era. Therefore, progressive large enterprises that are able to manage innovation will form the necessary base for the business-to-business-to-consumers (B2B2C) model, which allows for further proliferation of personalized experiences.

Moreover, the telco space in the Philippines is bolstered by the evolving role of telcos from being a pure connectivity provider to becoming a total ICT provider. The proliferation of telco services will be a critical precursor toward mature adoption of ICT services among local firms.

Local firms must also get ready in the upcoming integration of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). "Foreign investors need to realize, understand, and utilize the advantages that our country has — the Philippine market is very promising because of the growing economy, scalable educated and talented pool, infrastructure, and government and public-private partnership (PPP) support," says Alon Anthony Rejano, IDC IT services lead.

"The country needs to attract more investments from other Asian and Western economies. To achieve this, everyone from policy makers to business leaders must keep pace with technological advances and consumer-buying trends brought about by the disruptive technologies," adds Alon.

IDC believes that transformation and innovation are already happening. AEC will of course bring about interconnectivity and with this, there will be an increased competition. For organizations to survive and win in a borderless regional ecosystem, ICT is the competitive advantage.