Digitalize or perish, PH firms warned

Filipino entrepreneurs are encouraged to immediately jump on the digitalization bandwagon lest they find themselves out of the competition if another major disruption like the pandemic happens and they are not prepared, according to marketing technology company Insider.

Jack Nguyen, Southeast Asia regional managing director at Insider, said in a recent event in Makati that business owners have found it imperative to grow their online presence so they can reach out to more customers.

He noted the digital shift in customer behavior during the pandemic when mobility was severely curtailed to prevent the further spread of COVID-19 virus. Nguyen said this gave momentum to the digital economy as evidenced by the popularity of e-wallets.

This was different from the previous business strategies employed prior to the pandemic, the Insider official pointed out.

“Most of the business expansion before was dominantly offline,” he said. However, physical stores were shut down for a time due to COVID-19, especially during the onset of the pandemic.

“If one day, COVID happens again and you don’t own your customers. It is hard to bring them back to actually buy from you,” Nguyen stressed.

Rey Lugtu, president and CEO of digital transformation company Hungry Workhorse, explained that digitalization could be applied in a business’ operation, product platform and customer engagement strategy, among others.

“Essentially, digital transformation is innovation. It is innovating parts or in a whole of your business components,” Lugtu added. However, only 11 percent of the local companies are considered “digitally sustainable,” according to the recent Digital Sustainability Index report.