Digital transformation driving demand for Asia’s IT vendors

The demand for digital transformation is presenting Asia-Pacific IT retailers with a substantial revenue growth opportunity in the medium to long-term, according to new research.

The findings, released by GlobalData, analyse the importance of digital adoption amongst enterprises against the backdrop of the continuing coronavirus outbreak. According to the firm, growth in the sector is reigniting concerns regarding business continuity, data security, collaboration and seamless customer experience.

“The Covid-19 outbreak will definitely lead to increased uptake of digital adoption amongst enterprises over the next few years,” said GlobalData’s lead ICT analyst Sunil Kumar Verma. “During this period, vendors should leverage government framework and policies along with inorganic/organic growth strategies to create a digitized environment and develop digital capabilities.

“IT providers that can leverage capabilities around technologies such as AI, blockchain, cloud, and big data, and rethink their future business models by evaluating digital transformation will have a competitive edge.”

The firm’s data shows that spending on IoT technology is relatively smaller in Apac than in other regions. Apac enterprises have however shown interest in embracing digitalization across multiple verticals such as manufacturing (Industry 4.0), telecommunications (BSS/OSS overhaul), retail (visual search and deep tagging), professional security services (AI-based security surveillance CCTV), and banking (virtual assistants/chatbots).

A review of multiple IT providers in the region showed that digital capabilities have continued to boost revenues and have become increasingly important to the industry.

“The pandemic will only accelerate the demand for digital transformation, and IT vendors in Apac will do well to prepare for the impending explosion in opportunities around digital transformation,” said Sunil. “Vendors need to continue to fill gaps for the new age digital experiences by leveraging partner capabilities and pursuing selective acquisitions to have an extensive digital portfolio for these impending opportunities.”