Why real-time data boosted Covid-19 vaccine efficiency – and will give businesses shot in the arm as they digitally transform
- Firms can use digital technologies to modify, or create new, more profitable and effective working practices and customer experiences, amid evolving global business environment
- Such changes will help companies stay relevant and serve tech-savvy consumers, including Generation Alpha – those people born since 2010 – tipped to reach 2 billion by 2025
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Many of the world’s businesses now emerging from the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic are looking to improve their efficiency and resilience as they serve a new generation of consumers.
Alex So, managing director of Hong Kong accounting consultancy FastLane Group, believes digital transformation – the use of digital technologies to help modify, or create new, more profitable and effective working practices and customer experiences – could be the answer to tackling rapidly changing global business and market challenges, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises.
“I think in the last two or three years, the pandemic actually accelerated the pace of digital transformation,” says So, adding that such transformation includes things such as improving the process efficiency, customer experience and data security of companies. From the automation of transactions to the use of chatbots for customer services, So says that adopting digital services can help to streamline business operations for entrepreneurs.
One of the key tools So uses to help his business clients to digitally transform is real-time data. This is particularly useful for resources management – something that proved crucial for Dedicare Medical Centre in Hong Kong, which provided vaccination services to help tackle the spread of the coronavirus disease during the pandemic.
The huge demand for vaccinations meant that the clinic needed to stock up on a large supply of vaccines, which all had specific expiration dates, So says. But the clinic was able to use real-time data on stock levels so that it knew precisely how many vaccines it had left at any time to plan exactly when it needed to order a new batch to minimise wastage.
So says the clinic’s use of real-time data was made possible thanks to the cloud-based accounting software, Xero, which can be used anywhere with internet access. By setting up the software for the clinic, he says the stock level of vaccines was automatically logged, which helped it to safeguard manpower and resources for other areas of its business.