SAP’s Brian Roach: Agencies Must Build on Digital Transformation Efforts Amid Pandemic

Brian Roach, senior vice president and managing director for regulated industries at SAP, has said that the ongoing pandemic should drive governments to accelerate their efforts to leverage data analytics and drive digital transformation.

Robin Meyerhoff, director of strategic communications at SAP's transformation office, wrote in a blog post published Wednesday that Roach cites analytics concepts such as data mining as key practices that agencies can use to produce actionable results.

Data analytics can support a range of applications such as public health monitoring, financial model simulations and feasibility analyses for public emergencies such as pandemics and weather-related events, according to Meyerhoff.

“We’re seeing hospital systems that were prepared with predictive technology doing extraordinarily well, they’re not getting overrun,” Roach said in a previous interview. “Those that act as a result of what they’ve learned, and those that don’t – that will be the difference maker.”

According to Roach, agencies must inculcate lessons learned on improving citizen experiences as offices continue to operate remotely.

“There’s not a silver bullet, there’s not a button that you press and suddenly, you’re digitized, data-driven, and citizen centric," he said. "But it’s a journey and we will all get on it together."