The inaugural HKMA x MSHK Excellence in Digital Transformation recognizes fourteen Hong Kong companies for their successful and innovative usage of technology
20 June 2022, Hong Kong – The Hong Kong Management Association (HKMA) and Microsoft Hong Kong (MSHK) today celebrated 14 Hong Kong companies’ innovative and outstanding usage of technology through the inaugural HKMA x MSHK Excellence in Digital Transformation recognition. From cloud-first strategy to big data and Artificial Intelligence (AI), these companies demonstrated comprehensive and successful integration of technology into their business operations, creating positive impact on their business, industry and Hong Kong.
From nomination by MSHK, to screening by the HKMA and judging by eight esteemed judges from the Hong Kong’s business community, 14 winners have been selected for five categories: customer engagement, employee empowerment, product transformation, operations optimization and all-rounded innovator.
“Digital Transformation has been a major priority for many organizations, and the outbreak of COVID-19 definitely accelerated such trend. As a long-established professional organization dedicated to advancing management excellence in Hong Kong and the Region, we are very glad to see how Hong Kong businesses are utilizing advanced technologies to not only deal with challenges but also seize emerging opportunities while constantly reengineering their operation models. Innovation is a major source of competitive advantages nowadays, and our 14 winners have undoubtedly demonstrated this notion with their successful digital transformation journeys,” said Titania Woo, Executive Director of The Hong Kong Management Association.
“Technology offers infinite possibilities for Hong Kong to continue to achieve more. As Microsoft Hong Kong celebrates our 30th anniversary, we are glad to see businesses innovate and transform by reinventing their products and services and revamping their business processes. Microsoft will continue to empower Hong Kong’s business community to embrace these opportunities through innovation and technology. Together we will make IT our time!” said Cally Chan, General Manager of Microsoft Hong Kong and Macau.
Winners of the recognition are selected by a judging panel consisting of eight key members of Hong Kong’s business community:
- Titania Woo, Executive Director of The Hong Kong Management Association
- Cally Chan, General Manager of Microsoft Hong Kong and Macau
- Peter Yan, Chief Executive Officer, Hong Kong Cyberport
- Jarvis Ng, Managing Partner, Consulting, Ernst & Young Advisory Services Limited (EY), Hong Kong & Macau
- Albert Wong, Chief Executive Officer, Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks
- Professor Tam Kar Yan, Dean of School of Business and Management and Chair Professor of the Department of Information Systems, Business Statistics and Operations Management, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
- Duncan Chiu, member of the Legislative Councilfor the Technology and Innovation functional constituency, President of Hong Kong Information Technology Joint Council
- Raymond Cheng, Senior Advisor, QBN Capital
Results of the “HKMA x MSHK Excellence in Digital Transformation” are listed as follows:
Customer Engagement
- Centaline: Centaline partnered with Microsoft to implement blockchain and cloud technology to property listing procedures. With the immutability of blockchain technology, Centaline provides a secured online listing experience to property owners. Online estate agency agreements also get rid of the limitation of time and space, provide a 24/7 online listing experience, greatly improve the efficiency of online listing and property transactions.
- Tricor: Tricor embarked on a company-wide digital transformation to address operational pain points and deliver exclusive client experiences. Tricor re-envisioned customer engagement via the adoption of Microsoft Azure, Dynamics 365, Microsoft 365 and security solutions across its global businesses and locations. In addition, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has streamlined its accounting and corporate services processes by performing repeated tasks. The transformation has helped the firm to rapidly develop products and solutions that meet evolving marketplace needs as well as to integrate other corporate acquisitions.
Employee Empowerment
- CLP Power: In its journey to becoming a Utility of the Future, CLP Power deploys Microsoft 365, Power BI and other digital solutions to transform into a modern cloud-enabled energy provider. Leveraging innovative technologies such as data analytics, artificial intelligence, automation tools and smart meters, CLP Power is able to manage its generation assets and distribution networks smartly and efficiently. While providing modernized service, supporting customers on energy saving and carbon reduction, employees are also empowered to adopt technology to reduce manual work and achieve operational efficiency.
- Ricacorp Properties: Ricacorp Properties launched “Rica +” Artificial Intelligence platform that enables property agents to enhance efficiency and service quality through Azure. After data is processed and standardized, it undergoes repeated tests within machine learning model to obtain more objective and potential flat selection, which property agents can then focus on promoting and improve the success rate.
- ZA Bank: ZA Bank opted for a smooth transition to Teams during working from home. To the team, Teams was more than just a messaging software, but a secure collaboration hub for employees to shine regardless of their physical limitations. Employees would co-edit files, publish their project status on company-wide Teams channels to allow fist-eye and quick feedback even from colleagues who were not directly involved. Teams channel facilitated an open workplace communication culture in a secure way.
Product Transformation
- Konew FinTech Group: Konew FinTech Group leverages Azure Cognitive Search and Microsoft AI to synthesize information with intelligence. Through Microsoft AI, when people submit loan applications, they can analyze documents swiftly and connect key pieces of information. Through digitally collecting and analyzing data, Konew FinTech Group is able to identify and predict key customer needs and wants beforehand.
- Let’s Park: Powered by Azure, Let’s Park is keen to support the local parking industry heading towards the digital transformation journey. With its pioneered Monthly Ticketing (SaaS), all conventional monthly ticket renewal can be processed online automatically. Equipped with all-rounded payment options to ensure full services adoption and ultimate parker satisfaction. To maximize the use of idle parking spaces, Let’s Park runs a Parking Services Marketplace on Azure to allow parking space owners and parkers to connect, book and pay for the available spots across major hotspots in Hong Kong.
- UMP Healthcare: Hong Kong’s medical system has long been under immense pressure during COVID-19 and created a huge demand for telehealth experiences. UMP Healthcare leveraged Microsoft Booking and Teams to create a seamless telehealth journey, shortening waiting time for patients to less than 15 minutes. From doctor’s appointment schedule, patient’s online reservation, video medical consultation to invoicing through email, the whole streamlined process created a better experience for both doctors and patients with time effectiveness and efficiency.
Operations Optimization
- Fung Group: Fung Group adopted Datacenter Modernization for regional hub datacenter consolidation by leveraging Azure capabilities to optimize resources usage and management cost. Microsoft provided an end-to-end modernization solution from product and service perspectives to accelerate its Datacenter Exit Program. This transformation has elevated Fung Group’s business productivity and agility, meantime created a cloud-first culture within the company to faster react in this digital age.
- Maxim’s Group: Maxim’s adopted Dynamics AX which supports very complex F&B manufacturing at the factory. With over 3,500 types of raw materials and 2,000 packaging types, the system allows the production management to handle all kinds of recipes and formulas for its over 700 end products. In addition, Maxim’s could perform stringent quality control with the intelligence they gained into the plant operations. With data captured in real time, it also allows employees to quickly trace and identify sources of problematic ingredients.
- OOCL: OOCL aims to strengthen the capability in the use of Big Data and AI technologies to deal with various business operation scenarios. To maintain its service reliability, OOCL leveraged the AI for traffic disruption detection, together with the visibility of global vessel network and terminal congestion situations as to provide the optimal recovery solution. AI also enhances the ability of container equipment management to optimize equipment inventory utilization, automate empty containers repositioning, damaged containers detection and repair approval as to speed-up the flow. By establishing a digital network that carriers operate in, the vessels, terminals and even the weather can be tracked in real-time with situation awareness capability. The AI enabled Robo-Advisor can predict competing vessels’ routes, arrival times, port stays and berthing priorities to optimize and estimate bunker consumption, vessel sea time and port waiting time to improve operational efficiency.
All-Rounded Innovator
- AIA Hong Kong: AIA Hong Kong launched a corporate strategic priority of driving transformation in Technology, Digital and Analytics (TDA) to support the efficient and rapid scaling of its strategic initiatives, achieving greater growth and efficiency. The company has adopted Microsoft’s three-cloud approach (Azure, Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365) to drive significant improvements in scalability, stability and security while reducing operating costs. It is also the first batch of approved insurers in Hong Kong to leverage Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams to enable close to 19,000 financial planners to conduct remote selling.
- HKTVmall: Part of the company’s missions and visions are to create a digital ecosystem for Hong Kong and make Hong Kong a smarter city. HKTVmall embarked on an Open Databank project, a major initiative of the company, with a goal to open the data generated daily in HKTVmall to their merchants, media agencies and the public. Microsoft takes the role of being the Data Scientist for merchants who joined Open Databank, pre-building the analytics dashboard with Azure Machine Learning empowered business suggestions. The Open Data project completes the company’s digital transformation journey by harnessing the value of the data and turning them into business insights for their merchants.
- MTR Corporation: MTR Corporation recognizes the new possibilities of evolving digital technologies in the fast-changing business landscape. In their three-year program, MTR Corporation focuses on four perspectives: AI and data-driven personalized services and offerings to customers; an intelligent platform to deepen customer engagement and provide smart mobility features for customers’ journey; and advancement of a digital transformation within the organization. With Microsoft as the technology partner, MTR Corporation commits to being the industry pioneer in enhancing customer experience using digital technologies and promoting Smart City developments in Hong Kong.
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