17 May 2021 – The COVID-19 crisis has not only highlighted the critical role of information and communication technologies (ICT) for resilient societies but has also brought to the fore the digital inequalities between and within countries.
At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the urgency of accelerating digital transformation and advancing the goals and targets of the Connect 2030 Agenda to leave no one behind.
On the occasion of World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD), Dr. Reduan Hasan Khan, Head of B2B Products & Solutions at dtac, talks about the private sector’s role in accelerating digital transformation.
The Bangladesh-born engineer and Telenor veteran joined dtac in 2020 and now leads its Innovation Hub focusing on emerging technologies like Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud and 5G.
It Starts at Home
“We’ve seen that the pandemic has accelerated digital transformation for all businesses, even smaller ones – much of it due to work from home. On the one hand, they had to manage the digitalization of their workforce. On the other hand, they had to transform their customer-facing sales and support processes in a more digital-centric way. These same sets of challenges were also faced by dtac as a company,” said Dr. Khan.
‘dtac Smart Connect’ is one of the solutions developed by his cloud services team of five. It allows businesses to embrace the new normal with highly secure, scalable networking that overcome the constraints of legacy networks. The solution has been used by dtac employees to securely access company portals and platforms from anywhere throughout the COVID lockdown periods and beyond. And now, dtac’s B2B team is offering that functionality to dtac’s business customers.
“The key to supporting businesses transitioning to remote and flexible work is to keep it simple,” Dr. Khan explains. “This is why dtac offers the best value and worry-free business solutions, where customers can bundle their connectivity package with productivity applications, such as Microsoft 365, Workforce Management and more, all in a single bill.”
Digital Maturity
Thailand has high rates of digital adoption, as seen from the triple-digit growth of productivity apps used by dtac customers during the first wave of COVID-19. Likewise, redemption of online shopping offers on the dtac app grew fivefold. And these changes were even more rapid upcountry and among prepaid users.
“When it comes to digital transformation, it’s important to clearly assess a business’s digital maturity to chart the best transformation journey,” said Dr. Khan.
Businesses in the first phase of transformation are likely to adopt basic automations by digitalizing routine tasks mostly involving internal processes. The second phase involves offering customer-facing sales and support services through digital channels. And the final phase involves transforming the business into a true digital company by providing end-to-end digital customer and employee experience.
“That’s why buying a new technology doesn’t make your company digital. It’s all about transforming the mindset and culture. Understanding where you are in the digital transformation journey will guide you to reach your goal,” he explained.
Co-creation Era
dtac’s B2B product team provides comprehensive services ranging from assessment, consultation and tailored offerings that help companies advance their digital capabilities.
dtac works like a matchmaker – identifying customers’ pain points and matching them with a solution partner. At the same time, it also supports its solution partners with connectivity, platforms, and go-to-market.
This is particularly true for 5G development, where dtac has conducted proofs of concept for several 5G use-cases in areas of advanced surveillance, smart energy management and smart water management utilizing its 26 GHz based 5G Millimeter Wave network and private network/edge technologies.
“Digitalization will create a profound transformational effect, raising the bar for the whole country and paving the way toward Thailand 4.0,” Dr. Khan concluded.
