For example, financial institutions in Singapore are required to implement IT controls to protect customer information from unauthorized access or disclosure. In this day and age, a mobile workforce creates problems because the employees’ devices become a backdoor for hackers to indiscriminately access customer information. Startups like Reaqta use AI to power real-time behavioural analysis on remote devices and offers cyber protection on all endpoint threats.

Corporates in early-stage technology adoption

When day-to-day business interactions happen offline and digital data sources from stakeholders (suppliers, service providers, governments) are lacking, it is unlikely that extensive customer data will be tracked. Many less technologically mature corporates in industries are aware of the disruption faced but they do not have the fundamental infrastructure in place, or do not deem building such tech infrastructure as efficient for the business. This type of corporates require end-to-end solutions where customer education can help upper management to make data-driven decisions and professional services can provide customization to legacy systems.

In industries like FMCG and traditional retail, a corporate’s main engagement with end consumers goes through intermediaries or offline channels. Such corporates may have room to improve in terms of meaningful datasets to gain important insights about their consumer’s buying preferences. With the boom in big data, startups like Appier have deployed teams of top engineers with data and marketing expertise to tailor their AI solution for branded corporates across industries like Carrefour, Estee Lauder, Audi, and Minute Maid.

The key lesson here is that corporates can well benefit from working with regional enterprise startups which (i) understand problems faced in the local market and; (ii) employ tech talents who value add functional and technical expertise to the corporate.

Smaller companies and individual business units

With a smaller scale of operation than traditional corporates, smaller companies or individual business units have lesser need for extensive data integration or tedious software implementation into legacy systems. However, many businesses seek a more data centric solution that can transform a certain part of the company’s operations.

In recent years, we have observed some cases where local Enterprise SaaS startups rival global incumbents with niche point end solutions which are highly localized. They build features and capabilities which tackle specific problems faced by a particular set of customers. For example, an industry-specific SaaS startup called Intelllex has built an AI-powered knowledge bank that allows lawyers or paralegals to research relevant cases, statutes and commentaries from local and global jurisdictions with a secured system.

Businesses can find the right solution in enterprise startups

Ultimately, digital transformation shouldn’t just be a cosmetic procedure. Corporates do not necessarily need a Corporate Venture Arm or organize hackathons to seek innovation for their business. Likewise, it is not necessary for every business to build a mobile application.

The most important step that each corporate or traditional business can take is to choose an enterprise startup partner with the right solution to their digital transformation needs.