2020 Has Gotten Off on the Wrong Foot. Here's How ASEAN Businesses Can Turn It Around.

2020 has been a year of disruption. On top of an already slowing regional economy, Asean businesses are also forced to adapt and change to survive the ongoing pandemic. According to The World Bank report, Asean economies are more likely to experience a negative output gap ranging between -0.5 per cent and -5 per cent in 2020, depending on the effectiveness of each county in controlling the Covid-19 outbreak. The Asean business landscape we were once familiar with no longer exists, and the one that emerges during the recovery will be different as well.

For instance, consumers are shifting their spending from offline to online due to movement restrictions. Unsurprisingly, food delivery and e-commerce services are fast becoming extremely popular, while businesses with a predominantly offline presence struggle. Businesses that provide groceries, household supplies and in-home entertainment have been increasing, while restaurants, consumer electronic shops, apparel retailers and hotels are bracing for lower spend. Such trends might become entrenched - or linger for some time even as the region recovers.

It is becoming clear that many ideas and assumptions that worked for businesses in the past no longer apply now and in the future.

However, one thing does not change - and it can be the key to unlocking future opportunities. The region consists of the most active base of digital users and digitally enabled businesses in the world. There are 360 million internet users, and 44 per cent of organisations see digital transformation as a priority. With so much data at their fingertips, businesses can gain an entirely new perspective on Asean. This will empower them to capture opportunities they have not thought of before, minimising risks and ensuring they make the right decisions to move forward in the new normal.

Chart Your Business Path in Asean with Embedded Analytics

The game rules for data analytics have changed, too. Businesses must redefine the speed, accuracy, and location with which they track, analyse, and utilise data. Pre-defined queries, based on conditions of the past, will become less useful in an ever-changing business world. Hence, companies need the absolute freedom to ask any question about their data, but there is rarely time to stop and 'go do analytics'.

In this situation, embedded analytics can be key to making the best decisions without slowing down. It brings the power of analytics to the point of decision for every business user, within their applications, workflows, and information services, where it can deliver immediate business value. This helps businesses access and analyse data that is usually unused or difficult to locate so that they have the right insights in the right context to make accurate decisions quickly and accelerate business response to what's happening in the market.

Delight Customers, Stay Resilient, Emerge Stronger

Businesses that make decisions better, faster and with more accuracy will enhance their value to customers and gain their loyalty - now and in the future. Let us examine this through the example of an F&B retailer in Singapore that is experiencing less footfall in its brick and mortar stores due to the pandemic. As a response, it ramps up its online presence and offers home deliveries. There are a few ways that embedded analytics can help the retailer optimise operations and boost business.

To adapt to new buying patterns, the retailer embeds analytics into the inventory applications at the branch layer. When checking stock levels, branch managers automatically get insights on what items are selling more, so that they can better decide what to promote and stock up on for the week. They do not have to wait for someone else in the organisation to tell them and can instead access these insights and immediately decide themselves. That is pretty empowering, more efficient, and customer focused.

Then there is also the new delivery fleet in response to increasing online orders and home deliveries. Instead of monitoring the fleet and directing movements from a centralised control centre, the retailer embeds analytics into the fleet management software at the branches, giving staff more control over delivery times. They now know which drivers will become available and can prepare the orders just in time for the delivery schedules. The branches - and, by nature, the entire business - will become more responsive to customers and agile to changes in the market.

The retailer can also turn to government programmes, such as Singapore's Food Delivery Booster Package, to gain up to 90 per cent funding for building these digital capabilities. On an end-user level, the retailer can embed analytics into the app which consumers use to order their groceries. Visualisations or dashboards analysing the order history could show consumers when their favourite foods will be back in stock or on promotion, and which other items would complement them - inspiring them to cook a new dish they like and not forget that essential item. This way, the F&B retailer goes beyond just selling products to influencing consumers' lifestyle, jumpstarting their quality of life with meaningful brand interactions.

With embedded analytics, the F&B retailer will be in a better position to weather disruptions and forecast future demand. Consumers might continue to order online or consume different products. Whatever the changes, embedded analytics can give the retailer the immediate insights it needs today to adapt to the Asean market of tomorrow.

Turn Disruption into Transformation

While 2020 is a year of disruption, it can also become a year of transformation, especially for those businesses using embedded analytics. Their ability to uncover the data secrets and make the right decisions intuitively puts them into a better position to break previous assumptions that worked before, find new opportunities within this new landscape and create exceptional customer experiences - emerging stronger and more resilient after all this is finally over.

The writer is Vice President, Product Marketing (Data Analytics) at Qlik.