Microsoft: Enabling Digital Transformation for Business Growth

Wazzup Pilipinas!

With zetabytes of data soon to be within our midst in the near and looming future, businesses need to know how to use all those information for their benefit and advantage.

They need to adapt and evolve to the impending changes, and will be required to conform, if not able to excel, with the times to make themselves at least competitive or suffer imminent loss of profit, or worst, death.

We need to embrace the reality that everything and everyone aiming to reach and remain on top is going digital.That's how it is right now, and will be, as we say goodbye to the traditional and welcome the new technologies that has continuously disrupted the way we do business.

Nowadays, every business needs to operate like a software company managing digital and data in their business. There has been several job titles with "digital" as part of their designations but only a few are still fully aware what it stands for.

We can predict that the Internet of Things  (IoT) will start to change the business landscape until the next big thing is invented, or has emerged out of the many technologies out there just waiting for their big breaks just as social media networks has broken the Internet, and made people a lot more involved and engaged with everything around them.

Everyone needs to be able to engage, empower, optimize, and transform to keep up with the rapidly changing times. The digital transformation must be on a board-level, the culture must become data-driven, and we need to learn how to empower the Millennials to change the business into something permanent and sustainable and not just a passing trend or phase.

Staya Madella, CEO of Microsoft says to pick your technology partners carefully for it may make or break you if you make a mistake. But the question is how to choose the proper criteria as basis in making our choices.

After all, it may be the same technology that would also change how we perceive a successful business.

Below is the official press release from the recent Microsoft event focused on Digital Transformation of Businesses:

86% Of Business Leaders in Philippines Believe They Need To Be a Digital Business to Succeed: Microsoft Study

Microsoft Asia Digital Transformation Study shows that business leaders are just starting to embrace disruptions as region ushers in the 4^th Industrial Revolution

Business leaders in Philippines are showing urgency in embracing the 4^th Industrial Revolution, where 86% of them believe that they need to transform to a digital business to enable future growth and that new data insights can lead to new revenue streams for their organisations. These are some of the key findings of the Microsoft Asia Digital Transformation Survey[1] to understand how business leaders are embracing the digital era.

Technology advancements have ushered in the 4^th Industrial Revolution, where cutting-edge technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), advanced data analytics, and mixed reality are powered by cloud computing to create limitless possibilities in transforming the way people work, live and play. This revolution, together with rapid urbanization, emergence of the millennial workforce and a fragile global economic climate, is ushering societal and economic changes at an unprecedented pace.

The Microsoft Asia Digital Transformation Study surveyed 1,494 business leaders from Asia, including 111 from Philippines. All respondents were pre-qualified as being involved in shaping their organisations’ digital strategy.

Even as majority of business leaders are aware of the urgent need to transform digitally to address the changing business climate, the study found that the transformation journey for most organisations in Philippines is still at its infancy. In fact, only 32% of business leaders have a full digital transformation strategy while 43% are in progress with specific digital transformation initiatives for selected parts of their business. 25% of respondents have very limited or no strategy in place.

Karrie Ilagan, Managing Director for Microsoft Philippines said: “The Microsoft Asia Digital Transformation Study has shown that business leaders have started to act on the need for digital transformation to address the challenges and opportunities of the 4^th Industrial Revolution in the region. Lessons from past industrial revolutions have taught us that organisations that do not evolve fast enough will be less competitive or even obsolete as they face disruptions in every industry. We urge organisations of all sizes to digitally transform themselves amidst changing demands externally and internally, to stay relevant. At Microsoft, we believe this involves transformation in four key pillars – empowering employees, engaging customers, optimizing operations and transform with new products, services or business models, and data and the cloud are key enablers of these.”

Clear Priorities for Digital Transformation but True Transformation Lacking

Microsoft has defined what it means to transform in four key pillars:

1.     Engage customers: Consumers are savvier than ever before, with access to data ensuring they are often educated on a product or service before engaging. To stand out, organisations will need to deliver a new wave of deeply contextual and personalized experiences, while balancing security and user trust.

2.     Empower employees: The nature of how we work—and the workplace itself—has undergone a dramatic evolution. Organisations can empower their people and help them do their jobs better with the power of mobility, which allows employees to collaborate from anywhere, on any device, and access apps and data they need, while mitigating security risks.

3.     Optimize operations: Technology disrupters such as IoT are accelerating the potential for businesses to optimize their operations. This can be done by gathering data across a wide, dispersed set of endpoints, drawing insights through advanced analytics, and then applying those learnings to introduce improvements on a continuous basis. Organisations in manufacturing, retail, and even healthcare can shift from merely reacting to events to respond in real time, or even pre-emptively anticipating and solving customer issues.

4.     Transform products & business models: The opportunity to embed software and technology directly into products and services is evolving how organisations deliver value, enabling new business models, and disrupting established markets.

The Study found that business leaders are putting people at the forefront of their digital transformation strategies:

Fig 1: Prioritization of Digital Transformation pillars among Philippines’s business leaders today

Said Ilagan: “It’s concerning to see that while there is widespread acknowledgement on the need to transform, they are doing so incrementally. With constant pressure from newer, agile and tech savvy players disrupting across industries in Asia, the transformation of products and new revenue models provides the greatest opportunity for organisations to truly lead rather than be disrupted. Leaders need to rethink business models, find new data insights which lead to new revenue streams. And they need to do this by embracing a different way of bringing together people, data, and processes. which create value in a new digital business.”

Sailing into success: Wallem Shipping, one of the largest shipping agents in the Philippines, used Office 365 and Sharepoint to increase transform their productivity especially in their line of work where time value is important . Click here to read more.

Emerging Technologies in Demand

Cloud computing and the decreasing cost of devices have made it more affordable for companies of any sizes to transform digitally, according to 86% of business leaders in Philippines surveyed. Majority of business leaders (84%) regarded cloud computing as essential in their digital transformation strategy.

In the next 12 to 18 months, business leaders in Philippines are interested to explore a range of emerging technologies to accelerate and achieve digital transformation. The top five technologies identified by business leaders as being relevant to them are:

1.     Internet of Things (IoT): Network of sensors embedded into devices that can collect data or be remotely controlled. Examples include smart buildings, cars and home devices;

2.     Artificial intelligence: Intelligent machines or software that are able to learn and perform tasks independently. Examples include robots, chatbots and self-driving cars;

3.     Next Generation Computing: Computers and software that can process natural languages, gestures and visuals. Examples include Microsoft’s Skype Translator and chatbots;

4.     Wearable technologies: Advanced computing and electronic technologies that are embedded into clothing, devices or bodies. Examples include smart watches and fitness trackers;

5.     Quantum Computing: Next-generation computers using different computation systems to solve data equations much faster than traditional computers.

Ilagan added: “Emerging technologies, specifically, cloud, analytics and new capabilities like AI and IoT will give organisations new capability to transform. But real transformation only happens when they bring their people along with them. Equipping employees with the right tools to enable them to be part of solution to be more responsive, data driven and customer centric are also key.”

Barriers to Digital Transformation in Asia Pacific

While there is no doubt that digital transformation will bring significant benefits for both businesses and employees, the path to digital transformation has been slow, given that only 32% have a full digital strategy in place.

According to business leaders in the study, the top barriers to digital transformation are, in order of priority:

1.     Lack of organization leadership to ideate, plan and execute digital transformation

2.     Cyberthreats and security concerns

3.     Lack of a digitally-skilled workforce able to optimize digital businesses

4.     Lack of leadership shown by Board of Directors & Executives, as well as lack of the right governmental policies and ICT infrastructure to provide a sound digital transformation platform for organizations.

Increasing security threats in today’s digital economies is real and cannot be ignored. There is a continued perception among business leaders that the cloud is less secure. However, they may be less privy to the advances being made in the cloud on security and privacy and need more exposure on how, with the current threat environment, it will be safer being in the cloud than relying on tradition forms of IT. In fact, a recent Microsoft Asia Pacific survey of 1,200 IT leaders[2]  showed that 90% of IT leaders in Philippines believe that in the longer term, the cloud will be safer. 

“People don’t use technology that they don’t trust. This is a golden rule that applies to organisations and individuals alike as we live in a mobile-first and cloud-first world. Ensuring security, privacy, and compliance are key to enabling businesses to carry out digital transformation with confidence. With the rise of mobile workers introducing new devices, apps, and data into organisations today, protecting sensitive company data requires a new and integrated approach, all of which we have invested in significantly,” Ilagan added.

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more—building technology so that others can innovate, build their own technology, and create solutions that make things happen. Microsoft is uniquely able to enable businesses of all sizes to get from where it is today, to where it needs to be as digital business through its flexible technology solutions, integrated offerings and our investment in being the most trustworthy with investments in security, privacy and control, compliance, and transparency.  

To find out more about how Microsoft is enabling digital transformation for organisations, visit enterprise.microsoft.com/en-ph.

Clarion Call for BP Awareness

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The Philippine Society of Hypertension joins the International Society of Hypertension and World Hypertension League in their global effort to stem the tide of hypertension, which remains the leading cause of deaths in the Philippines and worldwide. Find out how you can help save tens of thousands of Filipinos yearly

Hypertension or high blood pressure (BP) remains the number one cause of deaths from all causes worldwide. In Southeast Asia wherein the Philippine population makes around 16 percent of the population of the region, the annual mortality attributed to high BP is nearly 1.5 million deaths.

In the Philippines, it is estimated that around 200,000 deaths yearly can be attributed directly or indirectly to high BP.

With one out of four adult Filipinos having high BP, and with roughly half of them not knowing they are hypertensive, this really calls for some urgent action.

“The International Society of Hypertension (ISH) has identified increased awareness as a key issue in the fight against raised blood pressure,” says Professor Neil Poulter, current ISH president. “To address the huge disease burden caused by raised BP, it is imperative that we increase the levels of awareness among the world’s hypertensive population,” he adds, citing a recently published study showing the rates of awareness, treatment and control of hypertension worldwide.

In the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study, which looked at the prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension in rural and urban communities in high-, middle-, and low-income countries involving a multinational study population, less than half (46.5 percent) are aware they have high BP, and the control rate was dismally poor at 13.1 percent. Awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension were higher in urban communities compared with rural ones in low-income countries, as well as low-middle-income countries like the Philippines (urban vs rural, P <.001). (Chow et al JAMA 2013)

PSH commitment

Dr. Lynn Gomez, president of the Philippine Society of Hypertension, says that the PSH, which is closely allied with the ISH, is committed to help increase awareness through its various public education campaigns. The PSH has also been conducting an annual Hypertension Specialist Course to provide all physicians involved in the management of hypertensive patients updated knowledge for a better understanding of hypertension and the various strategies that can be employed to control it.

Dr. Gomez recently led the PSH in revisiting its mission and vision, and prioritizing its strategies for BP control; and it has also identified increasing public awareness as a key factor to improve control.

However, despite all efforts by the government and the various medical organizations like the ISH, PSH and others involved in hypertension, the awareness, treatment and control of hypertension remain dismally inadequate in our country and worldwide. It calls for doubling and more importantly, sustaining our collective efforts to diagnose those with high BP and start them on treatment to prevent disabling and potentially fatal long-term complications.

This urgent call is going to be emphasized during the joint annual convention of the PSH and Philippine Lipid and Atherosclerosis Society (PLAS) at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on February 23-25. Prof. Poulter is joining the PSH-PLAS in the convention to deliver a plenary lecture, and to boost local efforts in public BP screening.

The PSH and the Philippine Heart Association (PHA) have been participating in the annual World Hypertension Day (WHD) in May of each year. The WHD has been initiated by the World Hypertension League (WHL). 

May Measurement Month 2017

Although the WHD quite successful in detecting many unaware hypertensive individuals, undiagnosed hypertension continues to be a global burden on society, governments, health care professionals and individuals, says Prof. Poulter. “Hence, from 2017 the ISH in collaboration with the WHL plan to facilitate the expansion of WHD into an exciting campaign and month of global BP measurement—May Measurement Month 2017 (MMM17),” he says in his video message sent to all international affiliates and partners of the ISH and WHL.

“We have an ambitious goal during the month of May 2017 to screen 25 million people, who have not had their BPs measured since April 30, 2016, during the month of May 2017,” explains Prof. Poulter. He encourages each country to target to screen 1 percent of the population. “We believe that this goal is achievable but it can only be met with everyone’s support and commitment.”

For the Philippines, the PSH, which is the local national coordinating society spearheading the month-long MMM17, is targeting to screen at least 1 million Filipinos, 18 years and older.

The PSH is coordinating with the Department of Health (DOH) and various allied medical organizations including the PHA, Philippine College of Physicians (PCP), Philippine Medical Association (PMA), Philippine Academy of Family Physicians (PAFP), Philippine Society of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism (PSEDM), Institute for the Study of Diabetes Foundation (ISDF), Diabetes Philippines (DP), Philippine Society of Neurology (PSN), Stroke Society of the Philippines (SSP), and Philippine Society of Nephrology (PSN).

‘Walking time bombs’

According to Dr. Rafael Castillo, a past president of the PSH and the Asian Pacific Society of Hypertension (APSH) and currently a member of the ISH Council, the MMM17 is just part of continuous campaign to draw sustained awareness for high BP and highlight the need for nationwide screening to detect everyone with raised BP, particularly high-risk individuals who are figuratively “walking time bombs.” They are called such because anytime they could “explode” to develop complications like a massive stroke, acute myocardial infarction and even sudden cardiac death.

He cites as an example a middle-age dentist who only accompanied her husband for a check-up, but was surprised when she also had her BP checked in the clinic and was found to have severe hypertension with repeated readings of more than 200/110 mmHg. She did not recall any symptom attributable to high BP, so it came as a big surprise to her.

“This is not an isolated case, and there are many more like her in the population. It only takes a few minutes to have one’s BP checked. Everyone must know his/her BP,” advises Dr. Castillo.

For MMM17, Prof. Poulter says that all those found to have BPs in the hypertensive range (≥140mmHg systolic and/or ≥ 90mmHg diastolic), will be counseled on diet and lifestyle modifications, and referred to their family physician for drug treatment and monitoring. Basic information will also be collected during the screening, and the data on untreated hypertension will be used “to motivate governments to improve local screening facilities and policies, and thereby to reduce the global burden of disease associated with raised BP,” says Prof. Poulter.

Prof. Poulter and the PSH officers are encouraging everyone to spread the word about MMM17 and encourage colleagues and friends to become involved: to establish screening centers, set up screening events in the month of May and/or dedicate their time as volunteers to screen targeted groups of the population. Volunteers may be nurses, doctors, medical students, community health workers etc.

According to Prof. Poulter, a stand-alone website will soon be available where participants can sign up, download materials and learn more about the campaign

A specially designed App will be available to collect all of the BP screening data. Where a screening center does not have easy access to the internet it will also be possible to supply the obtained data on an excel database. This App will be made available to all those participating in MMM17. A toolkit of information and supporting collateral will also be supplied.

Dedicated project managers will manage the MMM17 and will be available to answer any questions anyone may have. They will also help coordinate the global campaign.

“Together, we must try to make a difference to the biggest single contributor to global death and to the burden of this disease and we believe that increasing awareness of hypertension is one of the best ways of making such a difference,” Prof. Poulter exhorts all colleagues and volunteers to this global campaign.

Prof. Poulter and our local hypertension experts have sounded the clarion call. Let’s heed this call. Hopefully, we can save tens of thousands of Filipinos who may succumb to hypertension-related complications. This may include some of our loved ones.

Those who are interested to volunteer for MMM17 may call the PSH secretariat, Ms. Rowena Ramos, at telephone numbers 696 2819, 0917 625 5810; or email phihpn@yahoo.com, MMM17@ish-world.com.



Intra-text Quote

“Together, we must try to make a difference to the biggest single contributor to global death and to the burden of this disease, and we believe that increasing awareness of hypertension is one of the best ways of making such a difference” - Prof. Neil Poulter, ISH president


Written By Dr. Reuben C. Ricallo