Deloitte and SAP Launch Business Outlook Report to Support Hong Kong Companies to Tackle Evolving Challenges with Digital Technologies

HONG KONG, April 25, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Deloitte China and SAP Hong Kong today launched "Thriving in Hong Kong, a city of resilience and opportunities", a new business outlook report developed from a series of interviews with executives at businesses and associations across different industries and sectors.

The report examines three key aspects of Hong Kong's prevailing business environment:

• The macroeconomic landscape and positive prospects for Hong Kong's economy,
• business opportunities and beneficial exogenous factors for businesses, and
• foundations for growth that guide companies to prioritize and capitalize on related opportunities with digital technologies.

"We expect the Hong Kong economy to bounce back over the rest of 2023 as the Chinese Mainland continues to reopen, economic activity resumes, and stimulus policies add support, and there are already signs of a rebound in the private sector," says Andy Zhou, Deloitte China SAP Alliance Leader and Deloitte Consulting China Enterprise Technology & Performance Offering Portfolio Leader. "This evolving economic landscape means businesses should prioritize growth and digital transformation by riding on policy tailwinds, and at the same time invest in efficiency, sustainability, and talent development to stay ahead of the game in the post-pandemic era."

The report highlights the Hong Kong government's plans to invigorate the local business environment, including the development of emerging industries, and make Hong Kong a launchpad for companies' regional and global expansion. With government backing, the Innovation & Technology sector has been identified as a growth opportunity for businesses. The report also explores opportunities in high-end manufacturing, noting that many companies have moved production back to Hong Kong, and the digitalization of long-established businesses like traditional Chinese medicine and food production. In addition, international companies are also eying opportunities arising from Hong Kong's stock, bond, and wealth management connect schemes and the Greater Bay Area (GBA).

These market conditions underpin the importance for businesses to adapt and capitalize on post-pandemic factors such as the resumption of activity across all sectors of Hong Kong's economy. Drawing insights from well-established companies, the report encapsulates five priorities for Hong Kong companies to build up their foundations for growth:

• Ramp up business growth post COVID. As companies across all sectors accelerate the adoption of digital technologies, they can leverage cloud-based ERP and customer experience solutions to scale and build up omnichannel engagement to better meet customers' evolving needs.
• Tackle inflation with cost control and efficiency. Businesses can leverage supply chain and procurement management solutions to generate real-time data and embed automation to create visibility into overall spending, reduce operational costs, improve production processes, and shorten time-to-market cycles.
• Manage supply chain disruptions. As global supply chains have experienced unforeseen disruptions, companies can enhance supply chain planning and risk management capabilities with integrated business planning solutions to augment demand planning, generate visibility of disruptions, and optimize their supply response to better meet demand.
• Progress with sustainability through reduce, record, and report (the 3Rs). To achieve sustainability goals on a large scale, businesses are increasingly aware of and transparent about the environmental footprint of their operations and value chains. Cloud-based ERP solution can support them to collect and synthesize data for analysis and combine financial reporting and ESG reporting together in one single system.
• Double down on talent investment. The labor shortage in Hong Kong is one of the most challenging conundrums for companies to build a sustainable operation. Companies are advised to take steps to increase and upskill their labor force to meet market needs and drive economic growth. Human experience management solutions can help companies optimize their human resources operations from talent recruiting, onboarding, and learning and development to reward and talent retention.

"As Hong Kong's economic recovery gathers pace, companies in every sector are accelerating their adoption of digital technologies and eying expansion into high potential markets," says Esmond Tong, managing director, SAP Hong Kong and Macau. "Although they might be challenged by a host of difficulties including inflation, a talent shortage, and supply chain disruptions, SAP and Deloitte are well-positioned to support them to address these difficulties with best-in-class technologies and offerings. With a sound digital foundation, companies can build a future-proof operation and stay resilient and responsive to capture market opportunities."

Click here to download the full report.

About Deloitte China

Deloitte China provides integrated professional services, with our long-term commitment to be a leading contributor to China's reform, opening-up and economic development. We are a globally connected and deeply locally-rooted firm, owned by its partners in China. With over 20,000 professionals across 30 Chinese cities, we provide our clients with a one-stop shop offering world-leading audit & assurance, consulting, financial advisory, risk advisory, business advisory and tax services.

We serve with integrity, uphold quality and strive to innovate. With our professional excellence, insight across industries, and intelligent technology solutions, we help clients and partners from many sectors seize opportunities, tackle challenges and attain world-class, high-quality development goals.

The Deloitte brand originated in 1845, and its name in Chinese (德勤) denotes integrity, diligence and excellence. Deloitte's professional network of member firms now spans more than 150 countries and territories. Through our mission to make an impact that matters, we help reinforce public trust in capital markets, enable clients to transform and thrive, and lead the way toward a stronger economy, a more equitable society and a sustainable world.

About Deloitte

Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited ("DTTL"), its global network of member firms, and their related entities (collectively, the "Deloitte organization"). DTTL (also referred to as "Deloitte Global") and each of its member firms and related entities are legally separate and independent entities, which cannot obligate or bind each other in respect of third parties. DTTL and each DTTL member firm and related entity is liable only for its own acts and omissions, and not those of each other. DTTL does not provide services to clients.

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About SAP

SAP's strategy is to help every business run as an intelligent sustainable enterprise. As a market leader in enterprise application software, we help companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: SAP customers generate 87% of total global commerce. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers' businesses into intelligent enterprises. SAP helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want – without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables business and public customers across 25 industries globally to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, SAP helps the world run better and improve people's lives. For more information, visit www.sap.com/hk.

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