APAC digital transformation to ‘scale massively’ in 2017: IDC

• 70% of silo-ed digital transformation initiatives will ultimately fail
• By 2020, 30%+ of IT vendors will not exist as we know them today

BY the end of 2017, 60% of Asia Pacific 1000 (A1000) enterprises will have digital transformation (DX) at the centre of their corporate strategy, with the majority even creating an independent position to oversee the DX strategy implementation, according to IDC Asia/Pacific.
 
IDC Asia/Pacific’s top predictions for the region highlights how DX is accelerating growth on the Third Platform and challenging the current CIO (chief information officer) leadership model, the research and analyst firm said in a statement.
 
“In 2016, we will witness the mega transition in the DX era. Enterprises will ‘flip the switch,’ committing to a massive new scale of DX and Third Platform technologies in order to stake out leadership positions in the hyper-digital economy,” said IDC Asia/Pacific Practice Group vice president Sandra Ng.
 
The firm’s top 10 predictions are:
 
1) CEO-led strategy in DX: By the end of 2017, 60% of the A1000 enterprises will have digital transformation (DX) at the centre of their corporate strategy.
 
2) Dedicated DX executive: By 2017, 60% of companies with a DX strategy will deem it too critical for any one functional area and create an independent corporate executive position to oversee the implementation.
 
3): Third platform IT: By 2017, over 60% of organisations’ ICT spending will be for Third Platform technologies, solutions and services, rising to nearly 80% by 2020.
 
4): Customer/ intimacy at scale: By 2018, 80% of B2C (business-to-consumer) and 60% of B2B (business-to-business) organisations will overhaul their ‘digital front door’ to support 1,000 to 10,000 times as many customers/ customer touchpoints as they do today.
 
5) Leading in 3D: Through 2018, two-thirds of CIOs will have embraced ‘Leading in 3D,’ which requires them to simultaneously innovate, integrate, and incorporate.
 
6) DX collaboration: By 2018, 70% of silo-ed digital transformation initiatives will ultimately fail due to insufficient collaboration, integration, sourcing or project management.
 
7) Innovation capacity: By 2020, enterprises pursuing DX strategies will more than double their software development capabilities; two-thirds of their coders will focus on strategic DX apps and services.
 
8) New digital revenue streams: By 2018, 35% of IT resources will be spent to support the creation of new digital revenue streams.
 
9) Security and risk management: By 2016, 40% of IT organisations will shift their focus to advanced ‘contain and control’ security and away from a perimeter mentality.
 
10) Data governance for insights: By 2017, two-thirds of Asian-based CIOs will initiate a data transformation and governance framework to turn information into a competitive business differentiator.
 
“The digitalisation of nations, economies, industry ecosystems and enterprises are pushing new competitive benchmarks in areas of business process excellence and new monetisation/ business models,” said Ng (pic).
 
“The new hyper-digital era presents opportunities and competition/ challenges that go beyond geographic and industry boundaries.
 
“This is where scale becomes the competitive ingredient for the digital enterprise,” she added.
 
In closing, IDC predicts that digital transformation will drastically change the IT industry. In fact by 2020, more than 30% of the IT vendors will not exist as we know them today, requiring realignment of preferred vendor relationships.
 
To share more information about IDC’s FutureScapes documents and various technology predictions, IDC is hosting a free webcast titled IDC FutureScapes: Leading Digital Transformation to Scale on Dec 7, to be led by Ng.
 
To register for this webcast, click here.
 
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