Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, has announced that 79% of IT decision makers (ITDMs) in Singapore were satisfied with how their company’s existing IT infrastructure dealt with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on regular business operations.
Seven in 10 respondents also stated that the hybrid cloud approach was key to their company’s disaster recovery and business continuity during the pandemic. The Singapore-specific findings were derived from the company’s Cloud in Asia survey conducted in November 2020.
According to the survey, Singapore leads the Southeast Asia region in cloud adoption, with nearly nine out of 10 ITDMs surveyed saying their companies are already using cloud-based IT solutions. Another indication of the cloud maturity in Singapore can be observed by the top concerns flagged by ITDMs surveyed.
Compared to regional counterparts where integrating cloud-based solutions into existing IT infrastructure was one of the key issues, Singapore’s top concerns were a tie in cost and security (57%) and availability (49%).
Nonetheless, the pandemic has prompted the adoption of even more cloud-based IT solutions. More than 70% of respondents said their company introduced more cloud-based IT solutions since the pandemic started. With the undeniable benefits of cloud – especially in tackling a sudden and devastating event like COVID-19 – 72% of ITDMs agreed that their companies are even more supportive of using cloud-based solutions to grow the business as compared to before the pandemic.
During Singapore's Circuit Breaker (lockdown) in 2020 to contain the spread of COVID-19 from April to June, Alibaba Cloud received a more than 50% increase in demand for its cloud computing technologies among retailers, delivery service providers, education companies and even small businesses serving residential areas. The strong uptick in demand further demonstrates affinity towards using cloud computing technologies to solve business continuity problems by local companies large and small, Alibaba Cloud said.
However, 15% of local ITDMs said cloud-based and other digitalisation efforts did not help their company to cope with the pandemic, the highest in all markets surveyed. Thirty percent of respondents also said their companies worked independently to develop new solutions to mitigate pandemic-driven needs like remote working.
“The maturity of IT and cloud infrastructure and attitudes in Singapore means it is no longer a question of creating more clouds, but how to use existing ones more effectively,” said Derek Wang, Singapore GM, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence.
“Having realised much of the immediate benefits of moving to the cloud, the challenge for businesses here is to create new cloud-based solutions to avoid the diminishing returns trap.”
The step up from just moving to the cloud and readily adopting plug-and-play tools to creating tailored solutions for each company’s unique needs is not an easy one. Apart from the investment of people, energy and funds needed to power these initiatives, companies may be better served by partnering with specialists that have a critical mass of experience and expertise at hand to draw from.
ITDMs surveyed in Singapore already overwhelmingly agree that partnering with cloud providers and other vendors is critical. Close to 70% of ITDMs also reported that their companies are already using cloud-based solutions provided by vendors, the highest in Southeast Asia. Respondents here were also more confident than the Southeast Asia average that cloud providers can deliver on their promises.
Especially in 'black swan' events like the COVID-19 pandemic, 77% of respondents said that cloud vendors and/or external consultants should help them find customised solutions to support operational needs, and 64% agreed that cloud vendors helped their company react quicker to COVID-19. A black swan event is one that is unpredictable and may have severe consequences.
“We have been working with Alibaba Cloud since COVID-19 outbreak to help local enterprises, especially small medium companies to digitalise. Working with a hyperscale cloud service provider enables us to pass on the benefits from economies of scale to our customers, and with our local expertise we can customise the best-fit solutions for our customers, in order to help them achieve the most from cloud computing technologies,” said Edric Khoo, Technical Director, SCash, a software company that provides technology to help merchants improve their user experiences, increase loyalty, and automate business processes.
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| Source: Alibaba Cloud infographic. Almost 70% of Singapore companies are using cloud-based solutions provided by vendors, the highest regionally. |
Digital talent development has been a long-term commitment by Alibaba Cloud as a way to contribute to local businesses and society where it operates, through initiatives such as Alibaba Cloud Academy and the Alibaba Cloud Academic Empowerment Program (AAEP). Moving ahead, the company aims to partner with more universities, incubators and non-profit organisations to equip more talents with the next-generation cloud and digital skillsets.
To accelerate enterprise cloud adoption for businesses, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, Alibaba Cloud has increased its emphasis on working with local partners such as Bamboo System Technology and Human Capital Singapore to serve more customers. The company hopes to train more than 10,000 professionals in Singapore to implement cloud technology for businesses.
In 2020, 20,000 participants in Indonesia attended Alibaba Cloud’s Digital Talent Training Program, while over 10,000 local IT professionals in Malaysia have joined Alibaba Cloud’s online training sessions. In the Philippines, the company plans to train 50,000 and certify at least 10,000 IT professionals within the next three years beginning this year.
“In the face of challenges imposed by the pandemic, Alibaba Cloud is committed to supporting more businesses with their digital transformation requirements. Throughout 2020, we continued to support enterprises in Asia build up their digital abilityand ensure business continuity in regions that were hard-hit by the pandemic,” said Selina Yuan, President of International Business, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence in a January update of Alibaba Cloud's support for Asian businesses.
“We believe that digital transformation is not only about the technology, but also the human resources. In view of this, we will continue to work with universities, incubators and partners to roll out more digital training programs across Asia in 2021 and beyond. We hope to help nurture more talent equipped with knowledge and expertise ranging from cloud-based technology, artificial intelligence, data analytics, and ultimately, support the digital transformation needs of various businesses across the markets.”
In 2020:
PrestoMall, Malaysia’s largest homegrown e-commerce platform adopted Alibaba Cloud’s PolarDB, a cloud-native relational database to power its next phase of growth while maintaining cost efficiency, witnessing over 40% cost reduction after the data migration according to the company. Following the successful database migration in the beginning of 2020, PrestoMall has since moved its entire IT system to Alibaba Cloud.
Erwin Foo, Group Chief Technology Officer of PrestoMall said: “Due to the complexity of the e-commerce platforms, we need a reliable, robust and scalable database that can enable the growth of our dynamic business without worrying too much about the infrastructure and support needed. We are not just looking for a solution. We are looking for a long-term partner that can evolve and grow together with us.”
In Japan, enish, a game company, leveraged Alibaba Cloud’s gaming solution starting from 2020 with products ranging from its Container Service for Kubernetes, a cloud-native container platform for complex applications; cloud-native database PolarDB, log service, and Server Migration Center to its corporate communications platform DingTalk for communications between offices.
As a result, the average data processing time fell by 50% while the server costs were cut by 30%. Now enish can build a test environment for its new game in only half of the time, compared to 20 days previously, and construct of a performance environment in around seven days, a significant improvement from before the involvement with Alibaba Cloud.
“In particular, the ability to use the cloud infrastructure in Asian regions without any problems was key for us. The cost performance of cloud is remarkable and the variety of services offered is also attractive. The excellent support system was also a big help during the development,” said Lin Tan, Technology Leader from enish.
Investree, a lending platform for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Indonesia, deployed its applications on the Alibaba Cloud Container Service for Kubernetes; Kumu, a livestreaming and entertainment platform in the Philippines, used Alibaba Cloud’s Live Streaming Solutions to provide curators and viewers with rich and smooth experiences; and Luen Fung Hang Insurance, a pioneer in insurance in Macau, leveraged Alibaba Cloud’s hybrid cloud deployment solution and security products to ensure robust and compliant operations.
"By leveraging the cloud-native technology proposed by Alibaba Cloud, Investree completed the re-architecture from monolith to microservices; shortened its time of app development and deployment; reduced IT and resources expenditures and improved reliability and agility of our performance. We look forward to working more closely with Alibaba Cloud to accelerate our digital transformation down the road," said Pak Daniel, CTO from Investree.
“Kumu values our user experience and therefore, we want to work with a trusted cloud service provider to enhance our digital offering,” added Andrew Pineda, Chief Architect, Kumu.
“With Alibaba Cloud’s strong presence in APAC and its proven livestreaming ability powering various business scenarios such as e-commerce livestreaming during the 11.11 shopping festival, we believe their expertise is sufficient to help us in building a stronger technical platform to serve our users better.”
“Luen Fung Hang is committed to offering our customers with high-quality, secured, and constantly enhanced services. Alibaba Cloud’s comprehensive solutions and cutting-edge technologies help us tackle the challenge in meeting the shifting market demands. With this partnership, we hope to modernise and accelerate our digital transformation journey, which we believe will benefit our customers in the long term,” commented Alex Leong, IT Department Head, Luen Fung Hang Insurance.
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