Singapore marketing leaders cite 'serving customer better' as impetus to going digital
Singapore ‘line of business’ (LOB) leaders are expecting digital technologies and priority on technology-related skills as necessary for the future according to a Fujitsu report.
Better serving customers is a driving impetus for digtial technology accorindg to Singapore marketing leaders
The report surveyed 500 Singapore business leaders in marketing, human resource, finance and operations on their views on digital and how it will impact their work.
Marketing leaders in Singapore cite serving customers better (49%) as impetus for going digital. Marketers expect real-time access to data and digital technology will help achieve their goals according to the report. Other challenges and critical trends for marketers in Singapore are co-innovation with customer or partners (30%) and digital business models (32%).
This report comes after moves such as Publicis partnering with Microsoft and Microsoft partnering with Adobe shows the intertwining of technology and marketing.
However, less than half (35%) of marketing leaders have been on an organisational digital transformation program for some time. This is despite the fact of going digital being no longer a new concept.
The top three frustrations for marketing leaders then is access and support for newer technology, the IT department doesn’t understand my needs as a business user and it’s harder or slow to get information or data. These frustrations are underscored by only 61% of marketing leaders rating their internal IT department as meeting most of their requirements.
The top three challenges then for marketers is understand their customers, rapidly reacting to price competition plans and developing compelling content according to the report.
“Singaporean LOB leaders welcome digital transformation and want to see more of the benefits from digital technology implementations in coming months, even going so far as to take a more active role on IT decisions. It is imperative for the CIOs and the IT department to collaborate more closely with LOBs to ensure that they are not only maximizing value for LOBs with the digital solutions they want, but also fulfilling organizational goals at the same time,” said Wong Heng Chew, country president, Fujitsu Singapore.
"It's clear Singapore's business leaders think digital is the way of business today and in future. They know what it can do for them personally and their organisations - and they like it. Notably, they will increasingly have influence and control over IT investments and outcomes. This is true for both core technologies and systems as it is for emerging tech,” said Trevor Clarke, Asia Pacific research director, TRA.
Interestingly enough, report stated the top digital technology most important to marketers is email (26%), followed by CRM (18%) and mobile device (14%).
