65% of APAC GDP to be digitised between now and 2023 — IDC

Almost two-thirds (65%) of the GDP of the APAC region is expected to be digitised, with spending to explode to US$1.2 trillion between 2020 and 2023, according to research recently released by IDC.

This is attributed to the accelerated investments into digital transformation in the region, creating economic gravity and pushing the recovery from economic disruptions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to IDC, there will be three waves to market dominance in 2021 and beyond as organisations accelerate their race to recovery in APAC.

"Organisations will leverage technologies to adapt for survival, accelerate for growth and reimagine to lead," says IDC Asia Pacific group vice president for ICT research Sandra Ng.

"APAC is already leading the race with digital core investments to strengthen organisational foundation and digital innovation initiatives to overcome COVID-19, which exposed gaps as well as acceleration projects that introduce new business/operating models and help to gain market shares.

According to Ng, these are the top predictions for the IT industry that will have the most impact on how APAC organisations can adapt to survive, and accelerate to grow in the new normal:

IDC finds that by 2023, 70% of leaders in the top 2000 organisations in the APAC region will shift their management orientation from processes to outcomes. This, the report finds, will establish more agile, innovative, and empathetic operating models.

60% of enterprises will invest heavily in digitising employee experience in 2021, according to IDC, which will transform the relationship between employers and employees.

By 2021, 65% of organisations will have shifted to digital-first through automated operations and contactless experiences, as physical interactions become an amenity of the past.

In 2022, enterprises that are focused on digital resilience will adapt to disruption 50% faster than those fixated on restoring existing business resilience levels.

By 2022, driven by board-level agenda, 50% in the top 2000 APAC companies will formalise human oversight of AI-based decision automation to combat distrust of auto-generated recommendations and reputational risk.

By 2021, 25% of organisations will leverage employee productivity software to monitor and improve the digital workflows of their full-time, work-from-home employees.

By 2021, at least 50% of organisations will accelerate innovation to support business and operating model reinvention, fast-tracking transformation programs, to future proof their businesses.

By 2025, 75% of business leaders will leverage digital platforms and ecosystem capabilities to adapt their value chains to new markets, industries, and ecosystems.

"A key pillar to becoming a future enterprise in a post-COVID-19 outbreak era is digital resilience, continues Ng.

"We now know that resilience as we knew it pre-COVID-19 is not good enough. We need a new benchmark to futureproof us from forward crisis and disruptions, be it the next infection cycle or the next economic crisis.

"Digital resilience is the ability of an organisation to rapidly adapt to business disruptions, leverage digital capabilities to maintain continuous business operations, and quickly adjust to take advantage of changed conditions," ends Ng.