Local cloud services and data center pioneer IP Converge Data Services Inc. predicts the top ICT trends that will dominate the Philippines next year.
IPC director for product management and marketing Niño Valmonte says the integration of various digital tools and solutions in the workplace will continue to lead as increasing trends and the benefits that go with them emerge.
“The adoption of digital tools which started in 2016 extends to 2017 and beyond, as Filipinos become more digitally reliant not only in their personal lives but at work as well,” Valmonte says.
With office space generally becoming smaller and smaller, and the traffic situation worsening over time, SMEs and large enterprises are now starting to look at the possibility of implementing “work-at-home” or “work-from-anywhere” options.
“With almost everyone having devices and Internet connection at home or on the go, the option of telecommuting is viable for employees who want to stay productive,” says Valmonte.
The support of telecommuting has increasingly found support even from the government as the Department of Information and Communications Technology recently suggested this option during the 1st DICT Summit in November.
With the proliferation of various SaaS (software-as-a-service) business applications available today, companies can maintain and even increase productivity anytime and anywhere.
The future of telecommuting is seen to be clearer in light with high smartphone penetration rate which is expected to reach 70 percent by 2018, and general price reduction of other mobile devices becoming prevalent in the market.
Online chat apps allow teams to both collaborate in open forums or just casually talk or catch up in private messages. This saves precious time and effort since employees need only to type on their PCs or even in their mobile phones anytime and anywhere.
“Being a social people, we Filipinos are known for our use of a variety of communication apps. In fact, a study made by We Are Social revealed that Filipinos tops the list of countries with the most time spent on social media each day with an average time of 5 hours and 12 minutes,” he says.
Businesses of all shapes and sizes will also increasingly spend time to derive business value from data. Organizations will have to adapt technologies to map with IoT. With big data analytics, a company can enhance customer experience, streamline existing processes, achieve more targets, and reduce costs.
“Analytics drive business by showing how your customers think, what they want, and how the market views your brand. In the coming year, this will be a cornerstone of how businesses operate. Every important decision can and should be supported by data and analytics,” says Valmonte.
With more and more companies becoming aware of the benefits of “going digital,” the integration of automated processes in businesses will continue to rise. This evolution is perpetuated by the convergence of multiple trends across different sectors such as mobile technology, social media, IT, and data security.
This year, IPC held a series of workshops and training seminars to urge companies to further develop their businesses using digital tools.
Called “Gear Up to Innovate: An essential blueprint for digital transformation,” the seminars featured an immersive demo of collaborative business applications and witness how workplace productivity can be elevated through these tools.
