In the dynamic enterprise digital landscape in Asia Pacific, there are many technology developments and trends that are taking centre stage as rapid digital transformation sweeps the region. This poses many questions for leaders — how are they planning their tech investments in accordance with dominant trends? What are some smart strategies to shape IT budgets? Which tech investments are going to reap the most ROI? Are enterprises ready for 2025?
In order to get a detailed understanding of the dominant enterprise technology trends in the region this year, we launched the ETCIO SEA Enterprise Technology Trends 2024 Survey in July. The aim of the survey was to understand where IT investments in the APAC region are being channelled into. From cloud adoption to AI investment to ROI on tech investments, the survey aimed to understand and aid organisations to understand the direction enterprise technology trends are headed in the APAC this year in order to enable them to drive successful enterprise tech initiatives.
Cybersecurity, AI emerge as key focus areas
What we found was that as 2024 is turning out to be a year fraught with uncertainties on the global front, both geo politically and economically, a whopping majority (62%) of organisations surveyed do not foresee any budget increases for investment in new tech this year. However, trends clearly point out that two main realms will be the critical focus areas for both development and investment for most of the APAC organisations in 2024- namely cybersecurity and AI.
Let’s dive further into key technology insights from the region.
Key Insights of Enterprise Technology Trends 2024 Survey
Cloud adoption surge: 38% enterprises have moved 80-100% of enterprise workload to the cloud
When it comes to cloud adoption in 2024, the survey revealed that almost 38% of enterprises have moved 80-100% of their workloads to the cloud. 31% of respondents have 50-80% of their workloads on cloud while 31% of respondents have less than 50% cloud adoption.
All in all, the numbers reveal cloud adoption is on the upswing in the APAC region, with 69% of organisations having moved over 50% of their workloads to the cloud.
Level of automation: 62% of enterprises surveyed have already deployed automation
On the subject of deploying automation, a majority of the respondents are already using the technology in some of their major projects, showing a stark demand for the technology. 23% have started using automation on some level, and 15% are planning on using automation only in certain domains like security.
On an interesting note, no one declared they weren’t planning to use automation currently. These results showcase the fact that automation is already on the upswing in APAC, as organisations are at large ready to use it on some level.
Impact on IT Budgets: 38% of enterprises increasing budget to invest in new technologies
While 2024 is likely to be a year of slow global growth amidst a challenging geopolitical and economic environment, almost 38% of surveyed organisations are still increasing IT budgets to invest in new technologies this year. 31% of organisations however are foreseeing a reduction in IT budgets while almost 23% are hoping to maintain the status quo, with no impact on budgets at the moment. Meanwhile, 8% will be hoping to do more with less.
All in all, a whopping majority of 62% of organisations surveyed do not foresee any budget increases for investment in new tech this year.
Emergence of the Chief AI Officer role: Only 8% enterprises have a Chief AI Officer role
Given the rising importance of AI, we asked organisations how they are leading AI within their enterprises. While only 8% have responded saying that they have a dedicated Chief AI Officer leading AI within their organisations, 54% have clubbed the responsibilities of a Chief AI Officer with an existing C-Suite role.
38% of APAC enterprises are still deliberating on creating the role, or integrating it with the CIO or CTO, pointing to the fact that while AI investments have grown, a culture of ethical AI awareness or leadership is still work in progress.
The state of AI awareness: Nearly 15% of enterprises are imparting AI training to their staff
On the state of AI awareness in Southeast Asia, we wanted to understand how enterprises are prioritising the culture of AI awareness. Out of the surveyed organisations, 23% have already adopted AI and have put AI implementation in place. It’s interesting to see that 62% of enterprises are still reviewing their internal AI practices, and are in the process of establishing their overall AI culture, showcasing the intent to take it forward.
However, only 15% of organisations in the region have started imparting AI training to their employees, a practice that should come to the forefront in order to cut through the hype and make implementation a real possibility.
Maximum investment in 2024: Cybersecurity leads the pack
Given the number of increasing threat attacks and the increasing use of AI by cybercrime perpetrators, no wonder cybersecurity has emerged as the biggest priority of a majority of APAC organisations. 62% of organisations surveyed revealed that their maximum investment will be channelised into cybersecurity, with another 15% stating it will be focussed on cyber talent. Newer technologies like AI, ML, Metaverse are also the focus area for 15% of organisations while only 8% will focus on cloud deployment.
This year, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia have been repeatedly hit by multiple cyber breaches and the figures clearly show that cybersecurity and lack of skilled cyber talent will be a major concern and investment focus area for almost 77% of organisations.
Top criteria for selecting technology vendors: Reliability and performance ranks first for 33% of organisations
Technology vendors largely dictate what type of experience enterprises will have with certain technologies, and selecting the right vendor is imperative for organisations that require tailormade solutions to their unique challenges. Interestingly, reliability and performance ranks first in priority as 33% of respondents think it’s the top criteria to choose their tech vendors.
Cost-effectiveness was second in queue with 31% of organisations declaring it’s an important criteria for them, with organisations ranking trust higher than cost for choosing the right products. At third place, customer support and service (17%) overtakes security and compliance (14%) as a priority for choosing tech vendors. Only 5% of enterprises are considering innovation and tech leadership while selecting their technology vendors.
ROI evaluations of tech investments: Only 30% of enterprises evaluate their ROIs through financial metrics
Financial metrics aren’t the only considerations in the list while evaluating a return-on-investment (ROI) for technology investments. In fact, only 30% of enterprises use cost savings and revenue growth as an ROI on their tech investments. 8% consider operational metrics such as efficiency improvements in their ROI.
Majorly, 54% of enterprises use a combination of the above, including even customer satisfaction metrics in their ROI evaluation methods. There are also organisations that haven’t formally evaluated their ROI of tech investments (8%).
Survey Methodology
For the purpose of the survey, a qualitative online questionnaire was designed in order to collect data from leading organisations in the APAC region. The survey was run for a period of three months from July to September, targeting myriad industries from the region.
Industries Covered
The survey sample size spanned a multitude of industries, covering organisations with employee headcount ranging from 350 to 5000 employees, based within the Southeast Asia region.
Countries Covered
We received the survey responses mainly from enterprises based in the Southeast Asia region, namely Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Philippines.
We would love to hear about which enterprise technology trends your organisation is adopting currently, comment below!
