A study from Microsoft and IDC Asia Pacific showed Philippine organizations speeding up their shift to digital during the coronavirus pandemic but the pace of innovation is still slower compared to their peers in the region.
The study showed 82 percent of organizations in the country were “speeding up digitalization to adapt to the new reality”. This includes launching digital products, using e-payments, ecommerce and automation. The rate of adopting these digital innovations in the Philippines have increased by 4 percent but it is slow compared to other organizations in the Asia Pacific that saw an 11 percent growth in culture of innovation maturity.
The study defines this culture as the combination of technology, processes, data and people that ultimately allows organizations to sustain innovation.
“Innovation is no longer an option, but a necessity. We’ve seen how the recent crisis spurred transformation across the region and organizations will have to integrate the ability to innovate into their core to recover,” Microsoft Philippines country general manager Andres Ortola said in a statement.
Asia Pacific organizations that are seeing a faster growth in innovation maturity are also expecting larger business growth. Compared to their counterparts in the Philippines, 2.7 times more leaders in Asia Pacific expect an increase in revenue and one in three of them expect to increase their market share despite the crisis.
While innovation will be key for organizations facing this global crisis, it is becoming clear that the rate of innovation will also play a major factor. In the Philippines, where innovation is progressing more slowly than our peers in the region, we will have to catch up or be left behind once the global recovery starts to kick in.
Government and the private sector will need to work together in the coming months to accelerate the pace of innovation and progress because even though we will ultimately recover from the scourge of COVID-19, the world as we know it will never be the same again and only those that have made ready will be poised to take advantage of the opportunities and advancements that have been presenting themselves during this crisis.*
