Shinewing’s Andy Wong shines light on business trends and recovery in Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Business Awards judge tells what it takes for businesses to succeed in these challenging times.  

Andy is currently the IPO leader and PRC-HK Business Coordination Partner of SHINEWING (HK) CPA Limited. He has 29 years of experience in assurance and business advisory services, and considerable international and Mainland China working experience. He leads various projects in restructuring, business merger and acquisition, financial due diligence as well as audits and IPOs of listed companies in a wide range of industries. In recent years, he has assisted many Mainland China and HK enterprises successfully listed on the HKEX.

As one of the judges at Hong Kong Business Awards 2021, the self-confessed lover of photography, arts, musicals, and traveling shares some of his valuable insights on how to unlock the full potential of AI to ensure business growth in Hong Kong. He also shines light on how to adapt to the immense business opportunities in China, why digital transformation can be a disruptive force on a company’s sustainability and more importantly, what it takes to win the Hong Kong Business Awards this year. 

Which trends do you think will define Hong Kong businesses in the years to come?

Hong Kong has jumped on the e-commerce bandwagon over the past year as long as social-distancing measures related to the pandemic kept people online. In the years to come, digital and emerging technology will significantly transform businesses. The pandemic has further strengthened the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in everyday life and even brought a huge impact to businesses and operations in the tough times of widespread disruptions.

Before the pandemic, an online consumption pattern was not as popular as today’s business world as people would prefer a unique consumer experience that physical shops could provide. However, such culture has transformed as brick-and-mortar businesses have switched to technology and AI to assist operations when social interactions were minimized. The crisis has shifted the consumer culture from brick-and-mortar to digital-to-door, and this has utterly reshaped Hong Kong businesses and consumer perceptions and experiences.

During the COVID-19 outbreak, we have seen Hong Kong businesses across industries accelerate their digital transformation to become more agile. For not only staying alive in times of economic turmoil but also turning into a sustainable organization in the long term, businesses will need to make AI a core part of their strategy and develop a learning culture. By using the right tools, digital skills, and mindset, Hong Kong businesses can unlock the full potential of AI to drive innovation and ensure further business growth. 

Almost all industries in Hong Kong have been severely affected by the pandemic. What's your advice to those who are in the early stages of recovery?

Many businesses are still tied up responding to the impact of the pandemic to simply secure their ongoing operation. Some of the others have already been moving into the second phase of the crisis lifecycle and starting recovery, in which they have learnt from the past and started adjusting to the new business landscape. For those who are still in the early stages of recovery, I believe that there are already some key areas that seem to be very useful for their recovery management. For example, they should re-evaluate their current business models to prevent any shattered business models relying on outdated business assumptions and they should readjust their business plans to adapt to the new digital reality. 

Besides, having a mere focus on offline activities comes with a high risk in tough times. Businesses should have a healthy realignment and connection of revenue channels across digital and offline operations. Building robust and resilient technology platforms is crucial for a company’s future success. Given the clear impact of the pandemic on the long-term societal norms and lifestyle behaviors, businesses that are in the early stages of recovery should adapt to a changing consumer profile and establish closer relationships with potential clients, especially given the halt on inbound visits. Meanwhile, they should also develop and implement a contingency operation plan. The contingency plan should include the responsibilities of key personnel in each business unit, procedures for restoring the operation to normal, the use of technology for maintaining effective communication and normal business operation, training programmes necessary for personnel to execute contingency procedures, etc.

Understanding the market needs and reacting to the changing market landscape will be a key accelerator for future business success. Thus, companies that have a clear understanding of how their business context changed during the crisis can implement the measures to prepare themselves for future development. 

China’s newly passed Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law has been causing panic to many businesses and financial institutions in Hong Kong. What's your view on this?

Most businesses and financial institutions in Hong Kong should not worry about the law as the law was passed to deal with US and EU sanctions against China. The Law provides a legal basis for the Chinese government to countermeasure the extraterritorial effect of the US and EU laws. Because of the immense business opportunities, fast-growing popularity, and market size of China, many foreign firms based in Hong Kong would still have strong business interests in tapping into the China market to further expand their business and participate in the profitable China market. It is believed that China’s newly passed Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law would not hinder the businesses’ intention to invest and develop their business to a great extent.

Many experts are espousing digital transformation as the key activity that will keep businesses afloat during and after the pandemic. But is there a possibility that it can also be a hindrance--much less an added problem--to their survival and progress? 

Digital transformation can be a key action that will keep businesses afloat, but also it can be a disruptive force on the businesses’ road to sustainability. It all depends on business planning and management.

During the pandemic, it was common to see many organizations make process improvements and adopt new technology. However, many of these businesses might not have a clear and far-sighted strategic goal in mind and they were simply forced into making these changes to continue their operations amid a pandemic. 

Moving forward, these organizations are struggling to define how their new digital strategy fits into their longer-term business goals. In addition, they are facing issues such as lack of dedicated information & technology skills. Every successful digital transformation needs a dedicated, highly skilled information & technology team. However, transforming the management framework and building a technical team requires significant contributions to manpower and financial investments

Besides, skill shortages were one of the barriers holding the businesses back from pursuing their transformation goals. In particular, they were lacking expertise in areas like cybersecurity, technical architecture and advanced data analytics. Indeed, businesses may consider hiring external experts and software consultants to supplement their in-house team but this would add extra development costs for them amid an already challenging environment.

Finally, the survival and continuing success of an enterprise or business depends on its ability to make long-term growth and profitability. Digital transformation is only a tool to facilitate such progress. Therefore, benefits must outweigh the costs.

What key factors are you looking for when judging who should win?

I will be looking for creativity and innovation demonstrated by the candidates in the Hong Kong Business Awards 2021. Besides, I think the entries should have vast coverage of innovative and practical products or services matching the technological trends and business environment, and fully demonstrate great corporate social responsibility and exceptional corporate governance model of the businesses in Hong Kong.

It would be impressive if the entries have gone beyond typical business goals to uplift employees and stakeholders and to improve their deficiencies and weaknesses exposed by the challenging environment. This would be a really good example if any entry of the Hong Kong businesses could leverage their strength and resources to serve community needs and give back to the society during challenging times.