Malaysia leads Asia in this key HR issue

Almost 6 in 10 execs say they’re seeing measurable returns

Malaysia leads Asia in this key HR issue

Malaysian businesses are leading Asia in having successful digital transformation initiatives.

Six in 10 (58%) C-suite executives in Malaysia say they’re seeing measurable returns, according to a new study. By comparison, only 47% of Singapore companies and 34% of Japanese firms are seeing quantifiable ROI.

However, more than two-thirds (69%) of executives in Malaysia say they do not currently have a balanced scorecard approach to align and measure digital transformation initiatives.

Organisational misalignment and operational silos remain a top challenge for progress, as almost half of leaders say that different functions fail to share vital operational information with each other.

Of the business leaders surveyed by Workday, HR was found to be the most frustrated by the siloed way of working. The study found that 73% of HR leaders struggle with the issue, while 54% of IT leaders feel the same way.
READ MORE: How can HR destroy the ‘silo mentality’?

Over half of executives also cite a lack of common technologies and shared metrics as key barriers to cross-functional collaboration.

More than half (52%) say that their digital transformation initiatives are uncoordinated, with three quarters (73%) of HR departments lacking implementation plans for digital transformation, along with half (50%) of finance teams and 38% of IT teams.

HR and finance leaders can agree on one thing though: 93% of HR leaders and 80% of finance leaders agree that an integrated HR and finance technology solution is needed for greater visibility – the highest in the Asia Pacific region.

Currently, 20% of finance teams and 13% of HR teams in Malaysian companies have systems which are fully integrated and have been successfully transformed – which was similar to other countries in the region.

“As Malaysia’s digital economy rapidly expands it is great to see that local companies are keeping pace and leading the region in their efforts to digitally transform,” said Rob Wells, President at Workday Asia.

“Despite this success, there still remains work to do to break down company silos to effect change at an enterprise level.”