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PCCW Solutions Annual Digital Forum 2016

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For three consecutive years, PCCW Solutions has organised a forum with strong IT services, geared for professionals and industry leaders across a wide range of businesses, as well as private and public organisations. This year’s Annual Digital Forum 2016 (ADF 2016) focused on the importance of perspectives of digitalisation and Internet of Things (IoT).

Held recently at the Conrad Hotel in Admiralty, the “Digital Power Shift: Consumers Run Enterprises” themed ADF 2016 attracted dozens of PCCW Solutions’ technology partners, offering 600-plus delegates a glimpse of the latest digitalisation trends and developments and insights while allowing organisations to get prepared for the new digital and IoT world.

Delivering the keynote speech at ADF 2016, managing director of PCCW Solutions, Ramez Younan, shared with the audience his unique view, one that many find themselves unprepared for, that consumers want to take back the power and they are in fact running the enterprises now. Going on to explain his point of view, he said with the shift from single-solution digital to IoT digital when the processes of a transaction are linked and inter-related across the entire customer journey, consumers request nothing less than seamless transactions which are now usually and increasingly done anytime, anywhere.

To make the most of customers who are increasingly digital savvy, Younan believes businesses need to be flexible, open, agile and capable of offering products requested by consumers in increasingly shortened periods of time. Data is important, he added, but it will be useful only when an enterprise is able to analyse it in real time and to make timely decisions.

Already a cutting-edge IT services provider in Hong Kong, PCCW Solutions is actively building industry-specific solutions and skills that reflect the challenges customers face in the digital world. As shown in the exhibition area of ADF 2016, the company is focusing on a range of industries including banking, financial services and insurance, retail, manufacturing and logistics, travel and transportation, hospitality, the public sector, communications, media and utilities.

At the exhibition, visitors could come to grips with a range of IoT solutions put forward by the company in various industries. PCCW Solutions regards IoT as an enabler for digital industry solutions, along with omnichannel, which is the capability allowing a customer to be in constant contact with a service provider via multiple paths at the same time, and big data analytics.

Several interesting demonstrations at ADF 2016 are worth taking note of. An example is the Smart Parking. PCCW Solutions showed that the company can empower customers (car users) by providing them with real-time information of parking availability provided by car park operators across the territory. Thanks to the system, a driver would be able to reserve a parking space digitally, and hence reduce the frustration of wasting valuable time in a queue. The wider community would benefit as there would be less severe congestion, while car park operators could better utilise their resources. PCCW Solutions representatives at the exhibition said they received very good feedback from car park operators who also run retail space in addition to parking spaces.

Not surprisingly, Younan believes an enterprise’s investment in IoT will bring benefits to its development in various aspects. He cites the fact that IoT has been helping businesses improve operational efficiency, and that IoT enabled services are generally not driven by regulatory or compliance related requirements.

On how an enterprise should invest in IoT adoption, Younan thinks it’s of utmost importance to identify the right kind of solution to meet the actual need and longer term strategy of a business. It is crucial, added the PCCW Solutions executive, that an enterprise employs an open and flexible IoT platform that can support deployment of different technology stacks and facilitates collaboration across multiple vendors and service providers. After all, the components of IoT adoption are readily obtained from a variety of sources.

Younan also reminds people that a digital transformation can’t succeed simply by creating a separate enclave for digital activities. As digital solutions touch so many functions across a company, they must be incorporated across functions to be a viable solution. A company must therefore enhance internal collaboration, creating processes and teams that integrate various functions across the business and developing incentives for sharing.

PCCW Solutions also took the chance at ADF 2016 to announce the launch of D-Infinitum Global Data Centre Alliance with seven global partners from around the world. The D-Infinitum network combines more than 80 data centre facilities across over 40 cities globally. In addition to the existing owned facilities in Hong Kong and mainland China, PCCW Solutions, through the D-Infinitum, now provides co-location, hosting and managed services globally to assist its Asia based clients to move to new markets and support global based enterprises to expand into Greater China markets. D-Infinitum footprint will continue to expand rapidly with like-minded partners to support global businesses. 

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