A picture of contrasting priorities
To achieve customer-centricity, organizations are putting resources and focus on modernising their applications. To do this, they are also relying more on cloud solutions for scalability and more recently on edge technology to improve performance which is thought to relate to better customer experience. In the process, they are introducing complexity. They also think that automation is key to reducing rising costs.
Some key points of the 2021 State of Application Strategy by F5:
- 87% of organizations operate both modern and traditional architectures, with modernization deemed necessary when legacy systems are too rigid to adapt to rapidly changing business conditions.
- 77% of respondents said they are presently modernizing internal or customer-facing applications, with APIs as the primary method given their ability to combine capabilities of traditional and modern application components.
- Organizations maintaining multiple app architectures is growing, with as-a-service and managed service viewed as replacements for some applications where vendors can provide cloud-friendly alternatives.
How all this is looking in Southeast Asia (SEA)
While businesses are taking to the cloud in a general direction, not everyone (54%) thinks modernizing their applications is a necessary part of the process. Other countries in the region from India to China to Australia/New Zealand are more pursuing application modernization as part of their digital strategy.
Where apps sit (hosted)
Despite the shift to the cloud (68%), SEA businesses are the most reliant, compared to other countries in Asia-Pacific, on on-prem (78%) infrastructure to host their business applications. That said, SEA is not far off from the global benchmark of 72% on-prem and 68% in the cloud. SEA businesses are also more cloud-inclined compared to their counterparts in Greater China and Korea.
API strategy
Instead, 71% of businesses in Asia are adding a layer of API to fit what consumers are looking for in their vendors. At 82% India is the only other market in the region more tied to their legacy applications and using the same route (API layers) to achieve some semblance of modernisation.
Why edge
SEA businesses see edge solutions as important (52%) in improving application performance behind only India (53%) but ahead of other markets in Asia-Pacific.
Per Adam Judd, senior vice president, Asia Pacific, China and Japan, at F5, the 2021 report reflects the pivotal role apps play in the economy. As businesses continue to invest in their application portfolios, apps must able to adapt, scale and self-heal across different app environments.
"With more opportunities for growth as we reshape our world post-COVID, businesses need to architect strategies that hinge on technologies such as edge computing and data analytics to harness the full potential of its application portfolio to meet consumer demands for world-class digital experiences,” he concluded.
