Globe Business paves way for Braver Leadership at Lead-In 2020
Globe Business, the enterprise arm of Globe Telecom, gathered over 850 guests including thought leaders, business executives, media, and industry partners, in its virtual Leadership Innovation (Lead-In) Forum held recently. In response to COVID-19’s unprecedented setbacks to enterprises across the Philippines, Globe seized the opportunity to outline a relevant discourse during Lead-In, hinging on the topic Forward & Fearless: A Path Towards a Braver Tomorrow.
The webinar was geared towards how businesses can make a purposeful digital transformation, encouraging all leaders to turn challenges into opportunities for growth. The event’s keynote speaker was Sunil Gupta with Edwin Bautista and Christian Besler as guest industry speakers. Producer, writer, and CNN presenter, Mitzi Borromeo hosted the event. While this year’s Lead-In took the digital route in response to ongoing public health protocols, guests were treated to a futuristic experience via interactive virtual amenities such as a lobby, concierge, gallery, engagement activities, and more.
“Lead-In is our biggest annual enterprise event. It’s a platform that allows us to bring brilliant minds together,” shared Ernest Cu, President & CEO of Globe Telecom, who welcomed all participants to the event. “It’s important for us to maximize this forum and address the big questions our customers are currently facing. All leaders, at some point, have had sleepless nights figuring out how to future-proof their businesses. That’s why this year’s Lead-In revisits the core of being a brave leader. Our objective isn’t solely to encourage them to make a crucial decision to digitally transform now. We aim to raise the bar and urge them to exercise ambition, see progress as a future state, and find opportunities hidden in adversities.”
Cu also said that despite the pandemic, there is no other way but forward for all businesses. Companies must digitally transform not only to gain a competitive advantage but to also help the country progress.
Success has never been about living in the past but has always been about looking towards the future, fixing the gaze forward and capturing the opportunities hidden behind every challenge.
“The pandemic isn’t going to stop us from reaching out to enterprise leaders and sharing valuable insights that can help them overcome today’s immense challenges,” explained Peter Maquera, Senior Vice President for Globe Business. “If anything, now is the time to build each other up, start a conversation about ‘what’s next?’, and collaborate together to take a brave leap towards change for a better future.”
Trust, empower, enable
Besler, Chief Digital Officer of AC Health, recounted that although AC Health has been rallying for digital transformation even before the pandemic, the organization still struggled as it was being implemented. Because of the lockdown, patients weren’t coming in for consultations. Hospitals and clinics remained empty. The healthcare company knew it had to revisit its business model as employees and partners geared up for a work-from-home set-up–paving the way for teleconsultations. Besler explained that the sudden shift to a virtual workspace can take a toll on the workforce. Companies are left with the challenge of striking a balance between monitoring productivity and prioritizing outcomes.
According to Besler, AC Health leverages on a three-pronged business approach: trust, empower, enable. “It’s important that you trust your employees that they have the company’s goal at heart and that they will deliver according to the goals you have set with them,” he said. “It is also imperative that employees are empowered and given safe spaces for experimentation and improvement, by openly acknowledging that failure is an opportunity to learn, move forward, and transform.”
No one gets left behind
Bautista, President and CEO of Union Bank of the Philippines, talked about UnionBank’s digital transformation journey. “People asked us why we did it back then. We created our own sense of urgency. Because the worst time to do anything is when you no longer have a choice,” he countered. Digitize or perish, was Bautista’s and UnionBank’s war cry. They changed the way they interfaced with customers, conducted e-banking, and studied various technologies, placing their digital system on Cloud data service, and robotics information.
“Many of us in the industry grew our careers in banking. What was considered the best practices in the past may not be relevant now. Organizations must learn to unlearn and accept that environments change. Best practices are usually outside one’s industry,” Bautista said.
Bautista also noted, however, that some employees were hesitant about riding the wave of digital transformation for fear that technology would, in the end, leave them without roles to play. “This is why digital transformation is also about culture change. Leaders must not underestimate their company’s capacity to learn. Make it a promise that in the course of your digital journey, no employee gets left behind,” he clarified.
The phases of transformation
Gupta, an award-winning author of Managing Customers as Investment and co-chair of the executive program on Driving Digital Strategy at Harvard Business School and also an Edward Carter professor at the said university spoke about The Way to Brave: Fearlessly Looking Past the Crisis. He provided a case study of a global company that started with a virtual platform; selling books and electronics; and eventually shifted to various ventures such as an online marketplace, cloud services, hardware, video on demand, and studio content.
“The rules of strategy are constantly changing. The moment we think beyond our problem, we create more value. Businesses must think beyond their competitors because disruption often comes from the outside. Competitive advantage no longer comes from products alone, but from building skills, working backwards and scaling forward, and leveraging on insights,” he pointed out.
To reimagine business, Gupta explained that enterprises must study non-traditional strategies and competitors outside the industry. “Product, as a differentiator, isn’t going to prolong the lifespan of a company. Your competitors have different motivations. They’re playing a different game, on a different set of rules. Disruption often comes from outside the industry. Look for opportunities and leverage on capabilities. Think laterally, rather than in a single direction, so you can better deal with the ever-changing rules of the game,” he shared.
The journey to a purposeful digital transformation
Globe Business relentlessly supports enterprises with digital solutions that recreate resilience via Cloud Solutions; secure business outcomes using cybersecurity; establish first-world connectivity and inspire collaboration through a growing list of remarkable business applications. Globe believes that a path towards a braver tomorrow is one that need not be faced alone. With the help of its globally recognized partners, adept teams, and the trust of its customers, Globe Business is ready to shape a braver and better future, today.
“There is no need to wait until this pandemic to be over. We are in a world with more frequent, severe, and far-reaching disruptions. I think we feel it more now because technology has accelerated change and we’re increasingly interconnected. If you think so much about digitalizing, not so much in the technology sense but in terms of its characteristics — fast, easy, convenient, personalized, always-on, on-demand, interconnected, secure, ubiquitous, you realize you have to be digital because customers expect to interact with you in this manner,” Peter Maquera, Senior Vice President, Globe Business, said in his closing remarks.
“We have to think more broadly beyond ourselves getting digital but also, our end-to-end value chains, our ecosystems. If we could do this, the upside is not only business resiliency, but an opportunity to make growth and profit are exponential. And I hope each and every one of you will also rise to the challenge,” Maquera concluded.
(Explore the many courageous initiatives you can achieve with a partner you can rely on. Contact your Globe Account Manager or visit our website to learn more about how we can help you digitally transform your company’s tomorrow.)
