The innovative digital landscape in Asia sets the tone that the rest of the world will follow, from mobile-centric e-commerce, to effortless multilingualism. The APAC region has a proven track-record in leading technology and commerce, but companies need to keep iterating and evolving – without that mindset, competition from anywhere on the globe will eclipse Asian innovation.
Countries in and outside the region are using every geopolitical force they can to be world-leaders, with embargoes, tariffs, and sanctions becoming an increasing part of everyday business. Asia has both the necessity and ability to keep its position as the world’s innovator: The purpose of this article is to describe how that can be achieved today and tomorrow.
Defining ‘human-first’
When it comes to digital projects, the different cultural nuances of the region make for operational complexity as differences are reflected in technology. It’s the human factors that define the APAC market which are often misunderstood or ignored by companies from outside the region attempting to shoehorn their technology solutions into Asia.
At the core of successful digitisation in Asia are the people: customers, users, business partners, suppliers and shippers, each requiring an appreciation of their individual preferences, culture and expectations. Building a digital transformation strategy, and executing it in the long-term, have to focus on the human impact any decision will have in the context of Asian markets. When we talk about companies that can partner Asian organisations in digital transformation, it’s often assumed that larger companies don’t have the focus to see the level of local detail. While behaviour online may appear uniform (everyone uses apps, most shopping is done online) there are very different motivations and preferences in the region that differ significantly by country, region, or even city-to-city.
Recognizing that digital transformation in Southeast Asia transcends merely adopting global strategies, we focus on crafting solutions from the ground up. It involves developing bespoke solutions that are tailored to local requirements, driven by cutting-edge technology, and informed by regional insights.
– Ashish Pandey, GVP, Concentrix Southeast Asia
Concentrix is unique in the APAC: A big company, but one with detailed, personal knowledge of the region, and an understanding of the central human elements at play. Its understanding of local peoples, traditions, and practices combines with access to globally-sourced tools and years of experience. The result is technology solutions that are, by necessity, human-first: Asia’s business mentality of people-centricity represented in global technology.
The combination could just be the catalyst for APAC organisations, not only to continue the tradition of companies’ technology leadership, but accelerate the region’s lead in these challenging times.
Made to fit
The company has built its offerings on the operational processes of design, build, and run, each step of continuous transformation informed and guided by that unique combination of experience and local knowledge. This article looks at the detail of those processes, and explores how Concentrix helps Asian organisations continue to improve their business.
As we discussed in a previous article, the experience of all parties whom digital transformation touches is at the core of Concentrix’s methodology. Concentrix starts by gathering both employee and customer experiences, giving most importance to how any solution will affect the people in the business, and who they do business with.
Many businesses in Asia can find themselves educating their chosen overseas consultants and services providers on every aspect of how local markets and business processes are achieved. But because Concentrix comes to the table with local experts steeped in the region, organisations beginning a relationship with Concentrix can get straight to business.
In its consultation and design processes, the company co-creates with its customer, mapping out the desired relationship between it as a technology architect, and its users. Together, goal-setting makes sure that any proposal fits the client’s organisation to create picture of what success will look like. Together with Concentrix, a company’s problems and opportunities are unearthed, discussed, and the desired outcomes planned, in operational detail and, most importantly, in human terms.
Solutions designed and agreed are only as complex or simple as the needs of the organisation and its goals. Elements may be as simple as interfaces available in local dialects or a change in call centre scripting, or may be as complex as an enterprise-wide data policy. But in every detail, the overarching belief is that technology should be designed to fit people, not the other way around.
Return on existing investments
Concentrix experts are well-aware that the ‘ripping up and starting again’ of existing processes and systems is a luxury that no one can afford. Users in the organisation and today’s customers are used to switching between multiple platforms in a even the space of a single transaction. That makes system integration incredibly important, and a mainstay of the build process. Concentrix advocates modular technology, drawn not from a fixed portfolio of limited options but from any tool, service, or application, choices made according to the issues an organisation faces and the infrastructure in place.
Elements like creating automation, the addition of artificial intelligence, and methods of data analytics are the technical details, but these are created only to power the necessary human experiences; of the employee, customer and business partner. A modular design ethos allows detailing, change, attenuation and continuous development. It lets a company expand into new territories, and reach overseas to new markets. System adaptability is a must to remain sensitive to the human element, regardless of the size of the company as it grows and expands.
As systems are built and tested ‘on the ground’, Concentrix helps train frontline teams and adapt operational models as solutions take form. An environment of continuous communication and adaption is highly valued, with iterations and tweaks to the technology platforms applied according to the practical experience of end-users’ testing and trialling.
Initiatives that guide change cannot be rushed, nor can they be imposed. By keeping the business’s goals in focus, gradual and participatory change to new platforms and methods of working help guarantee success. Teams are not just equipped, they are involved, in partnership with Concentrix.
Running services needs more than maintenance agreements; there has to be momentum behind constant adaption and evolution. Concentrix establishes continuous feedback mechanisms to continue to learn from their customer, refining processes and technologies to deliver better and better outcomes over the long-term.
As a large company, Concentrix can draw on global experience and infrastructure, but its regional delivery teams are ‘boots on the ground’, making a difference every day to the way a company works and prospers in the APAC market.
That means moving away from a sole reliance on short termism or black-and-white data metrics, and continuing to listen and react to the people in the company, its customers and partners. While digital tools exists and have their uses (voice-of-customer tools, digital systems’ metrics, AI-driven sentiment analysis), they only paint parts of the picture. The relationship between Concentrix and the people in the business, on human-to-human level, is what makes for long-term success.
Final thoughts
Asia is home to some of the world’s most discerning, tech-savvy consumers and workforces. But its continued leadership will rely just as much on empathy and adaptability as on innovation.
While “design, build, run” may sound like a linear process, it is not. In reality, it is an ongoing cycle of problem-solving, collaboration, and improvement. Concentrix embraces this pace and rhythm, helping organizations respond quickly while staying rooted in human needs.
In a region where relationships drive business, Concentrix helps ideas take flight and transformation stay grounded in what matters most – people.
To learn how Concentrix can help your business scale and succeed in Asia, connect with a representative today.
(Image source: Unsplash)
