The enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) implemented because of the coronavirus pandemic has put a lot of pressure on businesses nationwide. Like many other leaders like him, on the day the ECQ was put into effect, AMTI President Allyxon Cua was faced with a dilemma – will he halt operations, putting hundreds of his employees out of income at a time when they most need it?

Most of his peers implemented a similar strategy after all. With restrictions on non-essential businesses, there is little chance for a company to make significant revenues during the quarantine. All over the world, economists and industry leaders are fearing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy.

Yet, unlike many of his peers, Mr. Cua did not relent to the pressure. Knowing that he had a responsibility to his employees, customers and stockholders, Mr. Cua had prepared AMTI for such eventualities through a digital transformation initiative that could flourish even in the most turbulent of times.

“Digital Transformation (DX) is about doing things in a different way (through the use of technology) in order to achieve desired business outcomes,” he said in an email.

“It mitigates the adverse effects of change and disruptions to businesses. Today, change is inevitable as we are in the era of the fourth industrial revolution where market disruption is common. Given the changes and disruptions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, every company must embrace and adopt DX in order to survive and stay relevant.”

Through digital transformation, AMTI, which has more than two decades of history as one of the biggest and most diversified ICT companies in the Philippines, has managed to operate through the ECQ as if it was business as usual, while keeping their employees safe against COVID-19.

AMTI’s digital transformation journey

It all started almost two years ago when Dell Technologies, the world’s biggest technology company and AMTI’s longtime technology partner, challenged Mr. Cua, to assemble a core team of executives to take part in the Digital Transformation Journey.

This was a time when digital transformation was little more than a buzzword in the Philippine business community, when most business owners failed to see the urgency to adopt it. But Mr. Cua quickly assembled his Digital Transformation core team composed of Stanley Yu (SVP, Finance), Whilma Cua (SVP, HR and Admin), and Bong M. Paloma (SVP/GM, CTO). AMTI, without hesitation, went ahead and made the investment – both in time and money – and joined discussions by diverse and experienced sets of experts from Dell Technologies in Singapore, which was followed by a series of tech updates and follow-up meetings in the Philippines.

At the time, the digital transformation helped create a response to the worsening traffic situation in Manila. The situation was not only putting a toll on the health of the company’s workforce, but it lessened employees’ customer time as they needed to take an average of three to four hours travel time every day. Mr. Cua’s AMTI-DX team toiled tirelessly to build the blueprint of a workforce transformation roadmap and immediately set it into motion.

AMTI’s early journey into digital transformation gave them the knowledge and insight that ultimately helped them become an effective & trusted IT advisor to their customers. It also paved the way for AMTI to becoming a true innovator and an ICT Technology enabler.

The company’s Digital Workforce Transformation initiative was in full swing and working like a well-oiled machine when the ECQ was implemented across the country. For Mr. Cua, it was only a matter of organizing his leadership team and rallying his resilient and passionate workforce. He declared that they will stay operational and will use their early investment in digital transformation to carry out a business-as-usual activity to respond to the urgent and immediate needs of their customers.

Now, nearly two months into the ECQ, the systems that AMTI have put in place have been stress-tested and proven effective beyond all doubt. More than that, AMTI even found that the amount of business that came in was more than their average – it was a record month for AMTI.

Thanks to the challenge set forth by Dell Technologies, and the rigorous planning and implementation of their digital transformation, AMTI managed to stay open during the most difficult time in recent history.

The initiative enabled them to capture the surge in business demand from old and new customers from the essential sectors during the ECQ. As a result, AMTI earned a lot of long-term goodwill and credibility from its customers because they delivered and served them even during these trying times. They were prepared, ready and able to ride the wave.

“Those who are prepared and willing to read the signs will surely win. We looked at DX initially as a solution to our worsening traffic condition. We explored ways to recover productivity loss due to long commute time and eventually creating what we call today a Digital Workplace as part of our Digital Transformation blueprint. Digital Workplace is all about technologies, using new tools, applications and mobile computing devices to work faster, smarter and better from any location, anytime. Digital Transformation enabled us to coast and swim against the tide especially during this pandemic,” Mr. Cua said.

For inquiries on Digital Transformation / Workforce Transformation needs, e-mail AMTI at inquiries@amti.com.ph.

 

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