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Recognising APAC’s trailblazers in digital transformation
The region’s top industry innovators were recognised for their digital transformation efforts at the Computer Weekly Innovation Awards APAC 2022
With an IT team of just six people, India’s StratMed Services, a group procurement organisation, single-handedly built a platform to improve data exchanges between pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors and healthcare providers.
Dubbed Integer, the platform has helped StratMed achieve collective buying power worth $150m in just 90 days and improved fulfilment of medical supplies to hospitals within three months.
At this year’s Computer Weekly Innovation Awards APAC 2022, Integer and six other projects across the region were recognised for their efforts to tap new business opportunities, improve efficiencies and solve pressing issues through various digital transformation initiatives.
Over the course of four weeks, organisations from India, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and other countries nominated more than 30 projects, which were shortlisted by a panel of expert judges comprising IT and industry leaders.
Each project was assessed based its business impact and value, innovation in solving a business problem and change management, which is instrumental to the success of any digital transformation initiative.
At a BrightTalk webinar, IT and business executives from across the region tuned in to learn about the winning projects and some best practices in digital transformation from programme sponsor Red Hat.
Here are the winning entries and why they stood out:
Healthcare winner/Project of the Year: StratMed Services
StratMed’s Integer platform was built to facilitate better data exchanges between healthcare providers and optimise costs. It has already brought a host of benefits, including improved prospecting, faster onboarding and better pricing for more than 80 hospitals and 300 pharmaceutical and medical device companies. Overall, the project stood out for its scale, data-driven innovation and impact on India’s healthcare industry.
Financial services winner: WLTH
Australian fintech company WLTH built the Single Customer Portal that allows customers to track all their assets and liabilities and monitor their overall financial position. WLTH staff also get access to dashboards that show every product a customer owns and every interaction they have, improving their ability to deliver a whole gamut of concierge and support experiences.
Public sector winner: Education Services Australia
Education Services Australia built an assessment platform to transition Australia’s National Assessment Programme from a paper-based test to an online adaptive one. It is now being used to deliver standardised tests to schools across the country, along with adaptive testing capabilities. The faster turnaround of results from the platform’s automatic scoring and marking capabilities has also allowed educators to better tailor their lessons to student needs.
Telecommunications winner: Telekom Malaysia
The benefits of robotic process automation (RPA) are clear, but few companies have been able to scale up their RPA projects like Telekom Malaysia did across several business functions, from customer service to payroll. In payroll reconciliation, for example, the telco saved more than 4,000 hours and improved execution speed. It also took the opportunity to upskill its workers, alleviating fears that RPA would take over jobs.
Retail winner: Weikfield Foods
India’s Weikfield Foods started a project dubbed Prism to empower its business and operations team with real-time analytics dashboards. The initiative has significantly reduced the time it takes to compile data, which means faster decision-making based on current data rather than outdated information. Inventory reports also ensure business and supply chain decisions can be made based on the right level of stock and at the right place.
Transportation winner: Geodis APAC
Geodis APAC engineered its One Road supply chain platform backed by various technologies such as internet-of-things sensors and artificial intelligence to provide a secure, visible supply chain using roads, across the region. The platform is now supporting the sourcing strategies of companies moving manufacturing out of China to locations such as India, Vietnam and Southeast Asia.
Manufacturing winner: GLS Group
Industrial films and packaging manufacturer GLS Group embarked on an enterprise resource planning (ERP) enhancement project that leverages SAP Hana to support real-time data processing across its manufacturing operations. The project has enabled GLS to streamline operations and work processes, drive new revenue streams and improve decision-making.
