With the China-initiated Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) finally concluded, economic ties between China and ASEAN have been strengthened and a confidence boost is given to the economy badly hit by COVID-19. Since ASEAN has already overtaken the EU as China’s largest trading partner in 2020, reducing trade barriers among RCEP partners will therefore present companies with abundant opportunities. On 20 January, HKT co-hosted a webinar with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system vendors Epicor and PreTech, providing a detailed analysis on what Hong Kong-based companies should keep in mind when relocating their manufacturing bases to ASEAN, handling their global business, and implementing total manufacturing solutions worldwide. It also highlighted on how companies could enhance network stability and security through HKT’s flexible network connectivity solutions and leverage its reliable cross-regional ICT solutions to improve work efficiency and seize opportunities in the ASEAN market.

(Tim Lam, Assistant Vice President, Product Management & Projects of HKT China, introduces the company’s flexible ICT solutions)

Tim Lam, Assistant Vice President, Product Department of HKT China, kicked off the webinar by briefly presenting how mainland China and Hong Kong-based companies (especially manufactures) could draw on the favorable conditions brought by recent policies, the RCEP and the Free Trade Agreement (FTA), to take the leap into the ASEAN market as early-movers. Mr. Lam thoroughly elaborated on HKT’s business layouts in the Greater China and ASEAN regions, strengths of HKT products, and how HKT’s one-stop ICT solutions, including, among others, SD-WAN, Premium Internet and IP-VPN services could provide companies with better network experience and seamless global connection at a lower cost, to help them achieve competitive advantages over their peers and tap into the Southeast Asian market.

(Billy Lui, Business Solutions Director, Asia, Epicor, explains the difficulties for companies in the face of global expansion and how their solutions can help)

Billy Lui, Business Solution Director, Asia, Epicor, then elaborated on common issues that manufacturers encounter during global expansion, and demonstrated how companies could take advantage of HKT’s one-stop ICT support services to promote digital transformation along with Epicor’s cloud-based ERP solutions. This would enable them to avoid these common issues, achieve lower operational cost, enhance resilience and expand capacity flexibly. Telecommuting would also allow employees to access data anytime from anywhere in a highly secured manner, overcoming geographical boundaries to deliver seamless connectivity for operations around the world.

(Ben Li, Vice President of Information Technology at Fashion Focus, discusses IT management challenges for relocating manufacturing bases to ASEAN)

Ben Li, Vice President of Information Technology at Fashion Focus, talked about the difficulties in IT management for manufacturers when relocating their manufacturing bases to Southeast Asia, such as having inadequate professional knowledge, shortage of local talents and barriers to cross-regional communication. Based on 25 years of experience in the field, Mr. Li opined that companies should plan ahead and make early preparations for potential issues during the relocating process, so as to prevent any unexpected loss that may catch companies off guard. He suggested that companies should find network and software partners well-equipped with professional and local knowledge at earlier stages, with a view to developing one-stop IT solutions with global vision and local applicability.

(Vito Ip, founder of PreTech, demonstrates best practices for manufacturers to implement solutions across global operations)