From left: Kishore Modak (Hewlett Packard Enterprise), Roger Rosette (Credit Suisse), Christopher Lim (Raiffeisen Bank), Mario Olivarez (Singtel), Hor Cheong Wai (Public Utilities Board), Sunimal Weerasooriya (Transnational Company), Glen Francis (Singapore Press Holdings), Johnson Poh (United Overseas Bank), Narinder Kapoor (HPE), Zhang Yan (ST Engineering), Chen Huaxing (UOB), Soh Siew Choo (DBS Bank), Tony Lee (Capitaland), Andrew Staples (The Economist Corporate Network), Chan Kong Hoe (HPE), Eugene Chang (Ministry of Defence), Ngiam Kee Yuan (National University Health

System), Avneesh Saxena (IDC), David Tan (HPE).

CXO Leadership Roundtable Series Singapore, 7th May 2019

On 7th May 2019, IDC and HPE hosted 15 CXOs at the CXO Leadership Roundtable in Singapore to discuss what they see as key challenges and

priorities of the CXO of the Future. The key topics that floated to the forefront were clearly business innovation and IT transformation, especially in relation

to data, skills and of course, security.

Transformation and innovation are high on the agenda among all the CXOsIDC survey shows that the top business goals for technology investment in the Asia/Pacific region is innovation and delivering new products and services, especially digital products. It is not surprising that having established the enterprise systems over the years, the next steps for CXOs are transformation and innovation. And this is changing the way CXOs are thinking of their strategic objectives.

“Media is probably the most disrupted industry in the world. So the question is, what do we do, and how do we survive in this new world? One way is to build different business models and acquire new ones as well. And in the space of media we will continue to strengthen content and build better digital capability."

Glen FrancisChief Technology Officer, SPH

"What are we doing as a company is to help our people add value to the way they work. Rather than having them focus on the routine, non-core tasks, we help employees sync up the tools they use in their work so they can free up time and do more value-added work instead."

Tony LeeVP, Capitaland

"The major enterprise systems are more or less in place. We're focusing on innovation."

Eugene ChangDirector, Mindef

"Our focus is on how you play in the niche high-value market. And how you deploy artificial intelligence and machine learning and these kinds of technologies to value add to what you do."

Sunimal Weerasooriya Senior VP, Technology, Productivity &

Innovation, Transnational Company

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Challenging times for CXOs It's not easy being a CXO. Even with the digital transformation (DX) strategy and focus in place, execution has its challenges. Culture, lack of the right skills, legacy processes and systems, and regulations are among the key challenges faced.

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"One of the biggest challenges is getting people who know DX. While the pool of data scientists is growing, it's still hard to find people with the technical skills who can communicate well. The ones who can do both are rare and expensive. Now we are taking in new graduates, grooming them. But the downside is eventually they may go to greener pastures."

Chen HuaxingHead of Data and Analytics, UOB

“The biggest challenge along this transformation was changing the culture. People need to feel personally responsible for the security aspects of their work and prioritize accordingly. Furthermore, ensuring an appropriate level of training in a fast changing threat environment is essential." 

Roger RosetteChief Information Security Officer, Credit Suisse

“We are dealing with people’s lives here. Anything you introduce, for example, AI to predict diagnosis, would need to be thoroughly validated, and subject to regulatory review. You can't just develop an app and then post it on Apple or Google store that might affect patient's health outcomes. So, there's always a struggle between innovation and regulations that keep the practice of medicine safe."

Ngiam Kee YuanGroup Chief Technology Officer, NUHS

"With cloud, we think it’s an opportunity to centralize our data centers and users experience. However, culture is a challenge. With different countries and their unique culture, and also different regulations, it's a challenge to centralize to the main culture and try to implement the project.”

Christopher Lim Deputy General Manager, Raiffeisen Bank

"DX is about enablement - to enable staff to go after more markets, to have visibility to serve customers. Sounds simple but it’s hard. Little bang is always better than big bang. There is no silver bullet."

Mario OlivarezGlobal Director, Cloud Sales, Singtel, NCS and Optus

Data is core to innovationMany organizations are looking to data for many of their innovation projects. Data and the value it brings was recognized by all at the roundtable. IDC predicts that by 2020, 60% of large enterprises will create data management or monetization capabilities, thus enhancing enterprise functions, strengthening competitiveness, and creating new sources of revenue in Asia/Pacific  excluding Japan.

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"We give information away, even though this ‘kills’ our own revenue. We have been spending on campaigns to encourage people to use less water. Instead of monetizing the data, we give the data away to industries to improve the water efficiency of their processes and machineries, and to residential consumers on their handphones, to empower them to reduce water consumption."

Hor Cheong WaiChief Cybersecurity Officer, PUB

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"We are looking at helping our customers upgrade their infrastructure while working with them to get more data from them to enable us to serve them better. “

Chen HuaxingHead of Data and Analytics, UOB

Collaboration and the larger ecosystemThe changing face of CXOs is very much the driving force of the changing face of their organizations. And the future is one where collaboration will be key. Finding and working with the right partners, whether it be others in the industry, suppliers or even competitors will be critical for success.

"We need to rethink our competitor; who is our competitor and who is our partner. In this world of frenemies, it's all about being able to partner with our ‘enemies’ as well.”

Glen FrancisChief Technology Officer, SPH

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"We work with people who complement our business and where it is a win-win for both parties. We often work with people who are not like us so that we can have other ideas."

Soh Siew ChooMD & Group Head, Consumer Banking

and Big Data/AI Technology, DBS

The CXO of today faces a rapidly evolving business and technological landscape and needs to grapple with unprecedented demand to deliver innovation and business value that aligns to the business objectives. Culture and change management are more important than before to ensure successful execution of new business strategies. Understanding the importance of data for innovation will be also be critical. The CXO of the future will need to embrace the business side of the organization and play a central role in the success of the enterprise.  It is not easy to constantly innovate, but the art of adapting to change, choosing more flexible IT models and partnering synergistically for business outcomes will define the DNA of the future CXO.

Copyright 2019 IDC. This publication was produced by IDC Custom Solutions. Any IDC information or reference to IDC that is to be used in advertising, press releases, or promotional materials requires prior written approval from IDC. For more information, visit: www.ap.idc.asia or email: gmsap@idc.com

Jointly Organized by:

Parting Thoughts

“We are all part of an ecosystem. Moving ahead, partnerships within ecosystems will play an increasingly relevant role.”

“We are bringing people back into the office to drive collaboration. And renovated the office to give them a differentiated experience.”

Narinder KapoorMD, Asia Pacific, HPE

Johnson PohExecutive Director, UOB