Digital transformation is undoubtedly one of the most popular subjects this year, as manufacturers grapple with production and supply chain disruptions due to stringent restrictions and lockdowns amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses worldwide have scrambled to buy laptops, servers and cloud-based software such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams to help employees work from home.
Some companies are trying to turn the global health crisis into business opportunities. They have accelerated the adoption of new digital technologies, such as online payment systems, social media marketing or customer relationship management systems, to reach customers stuck at home and recoup losses. Some have made inroads into new areas of business as industrial boundaries begin to blur.
Taiwanese companies apparently do not share the same sense of urgency to optimize their business processes, or create new services to cope with shifts in the market. They are not yet ready to leave their comfort zone, and Taiwan’s success in controlling COVID-19 is the main reason.
As early prevention measures arrested the spread of the virus, Taiwanese companies have been less affected by the pandemic than their counterparts abroad; there were no lockdowns and working from home never took hold. Local companies focused on safeguarding daily operations by taking employees’ temperatures and regularly checking their health conditions to keep the virus out of the workplace.
Digital transformation is lower on corporate executives’ priority list, unless they are forced to take action should the disease trigger an avalanche of revenue losses. As more than 90 percent of local enterprises are small or medium-sized businesses, they often face the dilemma of investing in long-term survival or short-term revenue boosters. Any business transformation carries a risk of failure, but during trying times, it becomes even more difficult to make the right decisions.
Manufacturers this year became more cautious on investing in smart automation, the first step toward digitizing production. About 680 smart machine boxes were installed on equipment in the first eight months of this year, compared with 1,985 last year, according to the Smart Machinery Promotion Office. About 60 percent of local companies have not introduced digital technologies, it said.
Meanwhile, Microsoft Corp CEO Satya Nadella has said that the company has “seen two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months. From remote teamwork and learning, to sales and customer service, to critical cloud infrastructure and security, we are working alongside customers every day to help them adapt and stay open for business in a world of remote everything.”
In Taiwan, most companies have returned to normal with only minor adjustments, with the exception of airlines, retailers and restaurants, which suffered the brunt of the pandemic’s effects in the first half of this year. Without digitizing operations, businesses would be unable to cope with COVID-19 resurgence, and it is hard to say whether Taiwan would be able to prevent an outbreak. Companies would not have the ability to satisfy customers’ needs for rapid shipment times, small orders and diverse production.
Digitization is crucial to enhancing competitiveness. Delaying this transformation will spell problems for companies — manufacturers in particular — during the post-COVID-19 era. Taiwanese firms are facing a high risk of losing their competitive edge or even being eliminated, as they lag global rivals in adopting digital technologies to optimize work flows, enhance efficiency, save costs and upgrade corporate structure.
The government should help cost-sensitive, small and medium-sized companies quickly introduce digital technologies. Building a new platform to provide consultations and digitization solutions would be one feasible approach.
The official media of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) reacted to the May 20 inauguration speech of President William Lai (賴清德) by asserting: “Lai’s words reveal his true intention of sacrificing peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait for his own desire for power.” This baseless accusation by Beijing that Lai is manipulating Taiwanese to resist unification with China for his personal gain, is part of a broader CCP information warfare campaign that has intensified since Lai’s election. This campaign, orchestrated by the United Front Work Department, the CCP’s agency for coordinating influence operations and propaganda, aims to demoralize Taiwanese,
US aerospace company Boeing Co has in recent years been involved in numerous safety incidents, including crashes of its 737 Max airliners, which have caused widespread concern about the company’s safety record. It has recently come to light that titanium jet engine parts used by Boeing and its European competitor Airbus SE were sold with falsified documentation. The source of the titanium used in these parts has been traced back to an unknown Chinese company. It is clear that China is trying to sneak questionable titanium materials into the supply chain and use any ensuing problems as an opportunity to
A few days after the presidential election, Nauru switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing. The “coincidence” fooled nobody. It was clearly a message to Taiwanese voters, punishing them for the audacity of electing President William Lai (賴清德) of the Democratic Progressive Party. What was surprising was the stated reason for Nauru’s decision, which referenced UN Resolution 2758, even though China’s economic clout was the more obvious impetus. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long tried to push the idea that the resolution bars Taiwan from participation in the UN and states that Taiwan is a territory of China. It does
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