Digital transformation kicks into high gear in the APAC region

For a new report, Optimizely has teamed up with Pulse to deliver the latest insights on the progress of digital transformation in the APAC region. The report is based on interviews with 400 tech decision-makers from companies throughout the region, in which they were asked to self-evaluate their digital transformation efforts as well as their future plans. 

With online traffic having grown strongly over the last 2 years, pressure on companies to digitally transform and develop new revenue streams has also increased. 100% of respondents to the Optimizely survey said they had increased their transformation speed due to the surge in online traffic, with 70% saying they had moderately or significantly increased their speed.  

A net positive result 

And the results are clear: 99% of respondents said that digital transformation has had a net positive effect on their business. In fact, 70% of respondents said that they were expecting 21-30% of their overall revenue in 2022 to come from digital revenue streams. 15% of IT leaders were even looking at more than 30% of their overall revenue coming from such revenue streams. 

Asked how they had worked to meet this influx of new traffic, 80% replied that they had outsourced traffic to third-party cloud providers, while 67% said they had increased their own server capacity. 39% declared that they had increased their IT department headcount, 23% also opted to increase personnel in marketing departments. 

Digital transformation is also set to remain a priority for IT leaders in the region over the next 12 months. 53% said that digital transformation is a significant priority for them, with only 3% of respondents declaring that, while important, further transformation would not be a priority for them. On the other hand, none of the respondents declared digital transformation their top priority for the year. 

Budgets reflect the new priorities 

The renewed focus on digitally transforming businesses is also reflected in company budgets. 71% of tech decision-makers said that 21 to 30% of their company budgets were currently set aside for digital transformation initiatives. 12% of companies bookmarked 31 to 40% of their budgets to such endeavors, with 1% of respondents’ companies going as high as 41 to 50%. Only 17% of businesses still use no more than 20% of their annual budgets to power their transformations. 

And the investment in digital transformation is set to continue, with 99% of respondents declaring they would increase their investments in the next 3 months. Only 1% said they were looking to slightly decrease their investments. 

However, many IT leaders concede that their digital transformation strategy is far from perfect. Only 20% were comfortable to call their transformation strategy “cohesive”, with 79% saying their own was “somewhat cohesive, but gaps remain.” We see a similar picture in how decision-makers assess their businesses’ digital maturity. Only 8% said their company was significantly more digitally mature now than it was 12 months ago. While all respondents answered that their companies’ digital maturity had increased, most said the increase was only slight or moderate. 

You can download and read the full report here. 

To find out more about how you can drive your own digital transformation with Optimizely, contact Niteco today.