Tech brands hold their own at Influential Brands awards

Influential Brands has named several tech-related brands as award winners at the 5th edition of the CEO Asia Conference held in Singapore on 7 November. The 2017 conference, themed The Future of Business in Asia, was held in collaboration with knowledge partner Deloitte Singapore, education partner SIM, and official car Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.

Source: Influential
Brands.

Jorge Rodriguez, MD, Influential Brands said businesses have been caught off guard with ever rising demands in consumer’s expectations and rising costs pushing businesses to optimise processes and embrace technology. “New technology is disrupting all businesses at both front end and back end. At the front end, businesses must allocate additional marketing budget for online and social media activities to reach to consumers. Even the luxury sector is being shaken up by technology. LVMH, for example, has launched its own e-commerce platform and Hermes has created its official WeChat account to engage Chinese consumers. Customer service is also evolving with consumers getting familiar with self-service counters, and do-it-yourself (DIY)  booking due to their familiarity with the digital screens," he said.

"At the back end, businesses must consider cyber security and embrace digitalisation to optimise processes. The latest trend is now moving towards artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, IoT in short.

"Despite these overwhelming challenges, we need to remind ourselves that every challenge presents opportunities. In response to these trends, businesses across Asia are taking new approaches to better prepare themselves for the future. For example, partnerships and alliances are being formed. Lazada entering into partnership with CapitaLand in China. JD entering into partnership with Central Group in Thailand. Another example is consolidation in the retail sector. With consumers going online, retailers are reducing their number of stores and re-formulating their online and offline efforts. One local example is Spring Maternity which took steps to reduce their number of boutiques to focus on a total retail experience in a single megastore allowing time and resources for their e-commerce developments."

Deloitte also released a white paper, Scaling Edges – A Pragmatic Pathway To Broad Internal Change, in conjunction with the event. In the paper, the consultancy advised companies to reconsider how they innovate today, typically by flooding the market with new, marginally improved products or services, to "innovating at an institutional level" instead in the era of the "Big Shift", what Deloitte terms the current environment where we are experiencing increased globalisation and rapid advancements in technology. 

"This change requires firms to rethink even the primary objective of why they exist and drastically change their management mindset; in today’s rapidly changing landscape, a focus on scale efficiencies is not enough. Though transformative change is required, it is admittedly far from a simple task," Deloitte said in the executive summary of the paper.

Pragmatic Pathways is a new framework for digital transformation that in essence says: 

- Focus on edges rather than the core of a company, as change agents can better identify projects which are most likely to achieve significant and sustainable returns. 

- Leverage external resources rather than internal support to scale in edge projects to circumvent scrutiny and organisational resistance to change.

- Accelerate learning rather than focus solely on short-term outcomes to make edges conduits of transformation.

Details:

Top Influential Brands Brand Name Category Country 13 Huawei Mobile Phone China 16 Canon Camera Asia 17 Grab Taxi Booking App Asia 18 Lazada Online Market Place Asia 28 JobStreet.com Online Job Search Asia 33 Telkomsel Telecommunications Indonesia

Explore:

Learn more about Deloitte's Scaling Edges methodology

Read the WorkSmart Asia blog posts about:

This year's Top Influential Brands

The 2015 Top Influential Brands and the winners in 2014

*Criteria for the awards in 2017 include:

Top Influential Brands awards

The 33 awardees will be brands enjoyed and loved by consumers in Asia. The selection is backed by more than five years of consumer insights and surveys covering Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and China and more than 5,000 respondents. The Asiawide study was conducted via both face-to-face and online surveys. More than 50 categories from Online Marketplace and Food and Beverage (F&B) to Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), Electronics and Beauty & Wellness were covered. The top five brands from each category qualify for this award.