Businesses in Singapore are fairly confident about their ability to survive the next global disruption, as they have adapted to the COVID-19 situation, with their digital transformation (DX) initiatives largely on track, according to a survey commissioned by Fujitsu Asia involving over 100 business leaders in Singapore.
The survey results were shared in conjunction with Fujitsu ActivateNow, Fujitsu’s first-ever global flagship thought-leadership digital event that was held on 14 October and included findings such as:
- Despite ongoing economic pressures, only 22% of respondents planned to reduce their DX budgets.
- Security across all aspects of DX initiatives proved to be one of the biggest challenges faced, as 70% of respondents cited data security as their top IT priority.
- As companies reshuffle their priorities ahead to include remote working and collaboration needs, the importance of fostering a data-driven or innovation culture however ranked near the bottom of the list.
Motohiko Uno, President, Fujitsu Asia said: “The government’s Smart Nation drive over the years has injected confidence among businesses to remain relatively unruffled in the face of one of the world’s biggest crises. The pandemic spotlighted DX’s role as a necessity to help organisations stay resilient in the face of major disruptions, and the importance of safe-guarding the security aspect of data, network and cloud platforms.
"Yet the futureproofing of businesses goes far beyond protocols and technology – organisations need to transform in ways that ensure that both employees and customers trust the outcome, a key pillar in successful DX strategies.”
Other survey highlights included:
Respondents were optimistic of the post-COVID era, with 84% rating their preparedness level at 6 and above (out of 10), and close to half (47%) rated it between 8 and 10.
Digital transformation initiatives remain on track. When COVID-19 impacted their operations, 22% saw a reduction in their IT/DX budgets, and one in three kept their budgets unchanged. To support their DX operations, one quarter increased their in-house initiatives, while 13% tapped more often on the expertise of third-party vendors.
The banking sector was most likely to be in-sourcing its digital initiatives (61%). The engineering sector reported the greatest increase, with one in three respondents saying that they are in-sourcing their DX initiatives more than they were before, even as they experienced the most budget cuts (50%). The education sector is most likely to maintain their IT/DX budgets (42%), while the public sector was most likely to report a budget increase (50%).
Cloud
Businesses were already investing in cloud capabilities even before the disruption brought about by COVID-19. Zooming in on cloud strategies, an essential part of DX initiatives, respondents shared that their top cloud investment focus priority is “just getting on the cloud” (29%), The survey also found that 22% of businesses are allocating resources and budget to cloud security.
Security
Respondents (70%) cited data security as their top priority, followed by network security (48%) and cloud security (44%).
Collaboration
During the onset of the pandemic, collaboration (26%) and security (23%) were the two most-cited challenges. The education sector’s main painpoint was collaboration (42%). One in two respondents in the healthcare sector also cited collaboration as their biggest IT challenge, as they had to cope with the increased workload at the frontline.
For the transportation sector, the primary IT challenge was external communication (33%).
Business resilience
Businesses also shared the three biggest challenges they face in building business resilience:
- Workflow and process complexity (almost 53%),
- Security (49%) and
- Resiliency (37%).
Two in three respondents (67%) in the education vertical named workflow and process complexity as their biggest resilience headache. For bankers the main challenge is security (67%), while company culture (67%) is the key concern for healthcare.
Since the start of the pandemic, businesses have placed a high priority on two key areas in terms of resiliency – minimising downtime to maintain maximum availability for customers, and adapting business models to lockdown measures. Respondents also placed a higher priority on maintaining or increasing productivity among staff, compared to promoting optimism or maintaining a stable headcount.
Moving forward, respondents cited working from home (55%), better business continuity planning (41%) and collaboration (40%) as their top three priorities in futureproofing themselves against the next COVID-level disruption.
While successful DX initiatives are often a result of combining technological, structural and cultural transformation, respondents however ranked the need to foster a data-driven or innovation culture as a low priority.
*The survey was carried out online in August 2020 with 108 management-level respondents from 103 companies. Respondents were from mid to large-sized businesses in Singapore across sectors such as banking, education, engineering, healthcare, retail, transport and manufacturing.
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