Seeing a big push among Philippine companies toward digitalization, Germany’s Software AG has partnered with MDI, one of the country’s leading communications technology solutions provider, to help local companies succeed in their digital transformation initiatives.
From left: MDI Group Sales Director Peter Laud; MDI Managing Director Myla Villanueva; Software AG – Asia Pacific & Japan Chief Operating Officer Stanimira Koleva; and Software AG VP Partner Sales Anneliese Schulz.
Software AG, Germany’s second-largest software company, offers big data, integration and business process technologies. The company also offers cloud-based software which are available via Amazon Web Services.
“Digitalization is a major trend and digital transformation is something that we see most of our customers having a very strong strategy around, and are executing the steps already,” said Stanimira Koleva, Chief Operating Officer, Software AG Asia Pacific & Japan. “What we aim to do through MDI is to help large organizations cope and continuously evolve through innovation using technology.”
Koleva noted MDI is the first channel partner engaged by Software AG to further serve emerging markets in the region. MDI has been a major solutions provider for 28 years and currently focuses on four areas: big data, security, mobility, and cloud. MDI has under its care some of the largest data lakes in the country.
“While there are some limitations in the infrastructure, we have to recognize that we are seeing a big push on digitalization both from the consumer side and the enterprise side, especially the telcos,” said Myla Villanueva, Managing Director, MDI. “Consumers are becoming very sophisticated when it comes to using digital products. While the telcos want to know their customers in a more sophisticated manner.”
Peter Paul Laud, MDI’s Group Sales Director, noted that another sector that is undergoing transformation is the banking sector. Laud explained that transformation in the financial services sector is multi-folded. “Transformation can be done in the front-end, where the customers engage with the bank; then in the middle, which is basically composed of the risk and compliance. Compliance is a big area around transformation, especially when you do transformation on the digital side.”
Drivers for success
While Philippines’ digital ecosystem is still nascent, there is a growing realization that digitization will form the bedrock of corporate agendas moving forward. A recent research by IDC revealed that digital transformation would be a key thrust in 80% of enterprise strategies by the end of 2019.
But what will ensure a successful digital transformation? “Definitely they need to step back. That’s why there is a need for discovery,” remarked Laud.
“When we help companies with their digitalization, our approach focuses on infrastructure, people, and process. It’s very critical to touch on all these points otherwise there can be so many things that can go wrong,” added Villanueva. “Identify firsthand where you are, where you want to be, and how people are feeling about it. Of course the buy-in from management is very important.”
Villanueva noted that analytics, a technology Software AG also offers, will play a very important role in digitalization.
For her part, Koleva says going digital is not just essentially automating what you currently have, but a different way of thinking about the “to-be” phase of what the organization is going to look like when the strategy is successful.
“We are glad to have MDI’s expertise by our side in this journey towards digitization. At Software AG, we believe co-innovation is the key of success in driving digital transformation.
“I see the Philippines market as a very important growth market for us. The country is one of the growth engines in the region and I have a high level of confidence around the stability of the economy and the business support here in the Philippines. And we are really looking forward to being part of that success story in the region,” said Koleva.
