Malaysia Leads Asia Pacific in Showing Returns from Digital Transformation Projects

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA�- Media OutReach - 18 July
2019 – A study by Workday, a global leader in enterprise technology for finance
and human resources, has found that Malaysian companies are leading in Asia
Pacific in quantifying the return from their digital transformation initiatives,
with 58% of C-Level executives seeing measurable returns. By comparison, only
47% of companies in Singapore and 34% in Japan had seen returns.

Workday, President Asia, Mr Rob Wells, addresses business leaders at Workday’s Discover Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur today.

 

The study titled “Digital
Dysfunction in Asia Pacific” was conducted in partnership with IDC Asia
Pacific, and looks at the barriers to digital transformation from the
perspectives of 1,000 C-level Executives and business leaders in Human
Resources (HR), Finance and IT. The findings come as the Malaysian government
has announced commitments to digitalisation this year and driving the Malaysian
digital economy forwards. Malaysia’s digital economy is projected to contribute
21% of its GDP by 2022.

 

When looking at the key
challenges to digital transformation, almost half (49%) of C-level executives
in Malaysia see organisational silos as a key challenge — an environment where a
company’s departments do not share operational information with one another. Frustration
with organisational silos was also felt by the other business leaders surveyed,
with 73% of HR leaders and 54% of IT leaders in Malaysia highlighting this as a
key barrier to transformation.

 

When it comes to
measurement, more than two-thirds (69%) of C-level executives in Malaysia say
they do not currently have a balanced scorecard approach to align and measure digital
transformation initiatives. 47% of C-level executives also cite a lack of
common technologies and shared metrics as key barriers to cross-functional
collaboration, with more than one third (34%) saying their organisations need
to invest more in technology.

 

More than half (52%) say
that their digital transformation initiatives are uncoordinated, with three
quarters (73%) of HR departments lacking implementation plans for digital
transformation, along with half (50%) of finance teams and 38% of IT teams.

 

From the perspectives of HR
and finance leaders, almost all (93%) of HR leaders and 80% of finance leaders
agree that an integrated HR and finance technology solution is needed for
greater visibility — the highest in the Asia Pacific region. One in five (20%)
finance teams and 13% of HR teams in Malaysian companies have systems which are
fully integrated and have been successfully transformed — which was similar to
other countries in the region.

 

Rob
Wells, President, Workday Asia, said, “As Malaysia’s digital economy rapidly
expands it is great to see that local companies are keeping pace and leading
the region in their efforts to digitally transform. Despite this success, there
still remains work to do to break down company silos to effect change at an enterprise level.

 

“Investments in technology can
help companies disassemble information silos and reimagine the business in a
way that allows an organisation to stay competitive in a
disrupt-or-be-disrupted world. The advent of cloud technology in Financial and
HR management will allow business planning to be more strategic, collaborative
and real-time, especially if brought together in one single system for maximum
benefit.”

 

Daniel-Zoe Jimenez, AVP
& Head of DX, Future Enterprise & SMB, IDC Asia Pacific,
said, “The survey results are
consistent with IDC’s research, and show that while 93% of organisations in
Malaysia are undergoing digital transformation, 55% are stuck in their digital
transformation journey.

“The key theme that comes
through in this research is the lack of collaboration and integration among
different functions across the region. Digital transformation is a team sport
and requires strong support from the top and close collaboration among team
members, from HR and Finance to IT and digital teams. Key investment in the
right technologies will help both increase employee and finance visibility and
drive cross departmental collaboration, accelerating digital transformation
success.”

About Workday

Workday is a leading provider of
enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources.

Founded in 2005, Workday delivers financial management, human capital
management, and analytics applications designed for the world’s largest
companies, educational institutions, and government agencies. Organizations
ranging from medium-sized businesses to Fortune
50 enterprises have selected Workday.