Companies in the Asia Pacific face mounting pressure to undertake technology-enabled transformation in order to meet changing consumer needs, according to the latest survey released yesterday by EY.
Tech Horizon 2022 is a global, multi-industry program that surveyed 1,668 C-suite executives and senior leaders (including 394 from APAC, of which about 80 are from Singapore and Thailand).
About 40% of APAC respondents and 37% of those polled in Singapore and Thailand respectively have cited this imperative to meet changing customer needs as the top reason for organisation to seek a technology-led transformation.
Despite this, however, only less than fifth of respondents (APAC: 16%, Singapore and Thailand: 19%) said they are leveraging data to be predictive, drive innovation and continually improve every aspect of the business.
“For many companies, data exist as isolated pieces of information. The scale and volume of data generated during the pandemic can be overwhelming for companies that do not have the necessary technology and skills to convert this data into useful insights,” said Jason Pang, partner, consulting – data and analytics, Ernst & Young Advisory.
He added: “For a successful transformation that delivers long-term value, companies and technology leaders need to prepare their business holistically, invest in the right technology and data strategy, prioritise the right use cases, and most importantly, putting humans and change management at the heart of the transformation.”
According to EY huge volumes of customer data have been generated since the pandemic as consumers become more adept at using technology. These data allow companies to better understand their customers and tailor their products and services.
But the Tech Horizon 2022 research revealed that responding to these changing customer needs is the most significant customer experience challenge that companies in Asia-Pacific face.
Gaurav Modi, EY Asean and Singapore consulting leader, said: “Delivering differential value from a technology-enabled transformation is possible – and necessary. Aside from having the right business, technology and data strategy, the most successful technology transformations put humans – committed leadership and empowered employees – at its centre, in order to succeed and realise long-term value.”
Four foundational technologies to drive long-term value
Survey results showed that companies are looking to invest in four technologies to drive long -term value. These technologies – data and analytics; cloud; internet of things (IoT); artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) – are viewed as the digital foundation for a successful transformation. These four technologies are expected to account for the largest share of investment and to deliver the most value over the next two years.
Over half of the respondents (APAC, Singapore and Thailand: 57%) place data and analytics at the top of their priority list for technology investment, followed by cloud (APAC: 49%, Singapore and Thailand: 43%), Internet of Things (APAC: 44%, Singapore and Thailand: 43%) and artificial intelligence (APAC: 35%, Singapore and Thailand: 30%).
“More than investing in a single technology tool or platform, the emphasis is on picking a combination of technologies based on the goals of the organisation,” said Gaurav Modi, EY Asean and Singapore consulting leader.
“While foundational technologies are becoming the bare minimum for technology investments, building the right technology combination involves picking additional technologies that are unique to the sectors that the company is operating in,” he added.
Employee skills gap hinders technology-enabled transformation
Despite the focus on technology-enabled transformation, respondents face a major issue with employee skills gap in finding, combining and analysing the data (APAC: 63%, Singapore and Thailand: 76%). Notably, respondents indicated that data and analytics (APAC: 42%, Singapore and Thailand: 35%) is the most important digital and technology-related skill that an organization needs for its transformation.
A majority of respondents (APAC: 70%, Singapore and Thailand: 80%) agreed that the “Great Resignation” has made talent acquisition more difficult. In response, companies are turning their focus to reskill their existing employees instead of hiring experienced people (APAC: 70%, Singapore and Thailand: 72%). Having said this, ineffective upskilling or retention programs (APAC: 46%, Singapore and Thailand: 49%) is the biggest internal challenge to the success of the reskilling plans.
“To bridge the digital talent gap, companies need to take a multifaceted approach. They need to be proactive with change management and new experience design for employees, implement a holistic digital talent strategy to retain existing staff and attract new talent to secure required skills,” said Modi.
He pointed out that participating in digital ecosystems to access skills and outsourcing to a trusted strategic partner are also pathways to accelerate access to capabilities.
