FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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‘Technology now a core issue’ for all businesses, says expert

‘Technology now a core issue’ for all businesses, says expert

THAI COMPANIES must find ways to bridge technology and business to be able to survive technological disruptions, an expert has said.

“Companies have to realise that technology is now a core of every business instead of a small aspect of the whole organisation,” said Kief Morris, Principle Cloud Technologist, ThoughtWorks.
ThoughtWorks is a global software consultancy that partners with clients to offer software solutions and helps companies make digital and technological transformations. The consultancy helps businesses use technology to improve their productivity while also offering software solutions to improve the software infrastructure of their clients. 
“When companies recognise their need to have a digital presence such as adopting new cloud infrastructures or becoming prevalent on various social media platforms, these jobs are often thrown to the tech-division to go figure out what that means for the company,” Kief explained. 
“However, in order to have a successful technological transition, the entire company needs to be involved in the conversation,” he continues.
This means that the head to sales, marketing, the legal department, communications, human resources and the CEO need to be directly involved in the transition, he said. 
“This is because technological transitions are not only a tech issue but also a core business issue. Unless all the functional divisions are part of the transition, companies will not be able to get where they need to go and compete with those disruptors who have entered the market,” he said.
One of the most significant challenges facing Thai companies is government regulations, according to Kief. While companies want to forge ahead with technological transitions, government regulations may not have quite caught up in terms of adapting to the new business landscape. 
“For example, certain government regulations in Thailand still require a physical signature. While many private companies have adopted digital signatures that help improve efficiency, regulation still says that digital signatures are not acceptable,” he says. 
“This lag between regulation and what technology can achieve nowadays creates a disconnect, which presents a challenge to Thai companies that are making technological transitions,” Kief said.
In Thailand, ThoughtWorks is involved in advising clients in the finance and insurance industries. Having established an office in Thailand in June 2017, the organisation now has 50 employees who are experts in software consulting. 
“In Thailand, we have worked with one of the major insurance companies in the country which was looking to build a digital sales platform to enable sales agents to increase the speed of processing documents from their clients,” he said.
ThoughtWorks helped the company build the digital sales platform while also working around new cybersecurity regulations from the government, which was implemented during the process of the platform’s development, according to Kief. Thoughtwork’s clients in the Asean region include Standard Chartered Singapore, the Singaporean government’s Ministry of Manpower, and Indonesian startup company “Go-Jek”.
 

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