IDC’s Digital Transformation Awards recognises disruptors, innovators

• Digital trailblazers recognised but only in two categories out of seven
• Organisations must decide what kind of DX is best for them

IDC Asean announced the Malaysia winners of its first IDC Digital Transformation Awards (DXa 2017) on 24 Oct.

The awards recognise organisations that have successfully planned and executed the digital transformation (DX) of one or multiple areas of their business through the use of digital and disruptive technologies.

The Malaysia awards were given in three of the total seven categories. Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd won Digital Transformer of the year for its on-going Astro Digital Transformation Programme to transform the company into a customer-centric, digital, cloud-based, mobile-first and analytics-driven organisation.

Grab Malaysia was named Digital Disruptor of the year for its disruption of the transportation sector with its carpooling and ride hailing app.

Alliance Bank Malaysia was named DX Leader - Omni Experience Innovator for its Cash2Home product, a first-in-Malaysia mobile foreign remittance solution that uses new technologies to enhance customer experience and generate additional revenue for the bank.

The Malaysian winners will join other winners from around the Asia Pacific region at IDC’s DX Summit and Digital Transformation Awards Gala Night on Nov 28 in Singapore where the regional winners will be announced.

“IDC believes this is the right time to recognise the digital trailblazers across the region for their great achievement in their digital transformation journeys, especially in current developing economies. We look forward to seeing more cutting-edge transformers and disruptive projects in the year ahead,” said IDC Asean managing director Sudev Bangah.

The four other DXa categories that were not contended at the Malaysia awards are DX Leader – Information Visionary, DX Leader – L3D Master, DX Leader – Operational Transformation and DX Leader – Talent Acceleration.

Bangah explained that organisations that submitted themselves as nominees have to meet extensive criteria to be chosen for the award in their respective categories.

“Unfortunately, in Malaysia, while there were a lot of nominees, not all of them were able to check off all the boxes that were required,” said Bangah.

He also said that the IDC is looking forward to more Malaysian DX and organisations growing to be able to meet the criteria, picking out operational transformation as a category that may see a lot of potential nominees in the next five years.

“The fun part [of the growth journey] will be seeing how organisations will address the evolving job and skills markets – how they will help those with, for lack of a better word, irrelevant skills for the digital economy to retain a job and upskill them to a higher-level position in their organisations.”

IDC Malaysia research director Pranabesh Nath said that organisations in Malaysia are rapidly adapting DX to stay competitive in the global market, with the most progressive organisations that possess a strong digital mindset disrupting the landscape as consumers become increasingly tech savvy in the face of borderless competition.

Bangah added that the pace of DX is relative, with the pace in Malaysia varying over the years but still competitive compared to the country’s Southeast-Asian neighbours.

He explained that in the recent past, Malaysian CEOs tended to lack patience with digital projects, demanding quick returns on investments because technology was seen as more of a cost than anything else.

“Five years on we are seeing different discussions, IT projects being linked to business KPIs, engagement with customers being at the forefront,” he said.

He pointed out that while Grab Malaysia is a digital native, Astro and Alliance are digital immigrants who have had to take steps to move their whole organisations towards digital to adapt to the changing world and are doing it successfully as evidence by their DXa wins. 

“So, we are positive about how the organisations in Malaysia are progressing,” he said.

Nath added that though the reason companies embrace DX is to find the next avenue of growth, the dynamics in each industry and market are different with growth at different paces and stages.

“It’s actually very hard to compare Malaysia with other countries. Each company [in each country] needs to look around themselves and decide if they need to use DX to survive and thrive in their own emerging digital economy.”

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