APAC gets into digital transformation, but still not at mature stage: IDC

• 5 stages: Ad hoc, opportunistic, repeatable, managed and optimised
• Most APAC organisations are stuck in the first two phases

 
ASIA Pacific organisations are still at a nascent stage of digital transformation (DX), with the vast majority (45.4%) of enterprises in an IDC Asia/Pacific survey operating at the basic ad hoc level (that is, digital resisters) and yet to establish basic DX capabilities and adopt digital solutions systematically.
 
“The pace of DX is accelerating in Asia Pacific, but 45% of organisations are still in the first stage of DX maturity (out of five stages), compared with 14% in the United States,” said Daniel-Zoe Jimenez, associate director and lead of IDC’s Asia/Pacific Digital Transformation research practice.
 
“Organisations in Asia Pacific need to focus on accelerating their digital capabilities, otherwise they will face irrelevance.
 
“If successfully done, this will help drive competitive advantage, grow revenue, and ultimately increase market share,” he added.
 
Thirty-three percent of organisations (the second largest group) fall within the opportunistic stage of DX maturity, IDC said in a statement.
 
These organisations have already established basic digital capabilities, but to progress to the next stage of maturity (repeatable) they need to focus on increasing the integration and consistency of its digital initiatives.
 

 
The IDC MaturityScape Benchmark: Digital Transformation in Asia/Pacific (Excluding Japan) provides data to help organisations uncover gaps between their own and their competitors' DX maturity.  It consists of five stages: Ad hoc, opportunistic, repeatable, managed and optimised.
 
To view the opportunities and challenges more clearly as IT moves through the various stages of DX maturity, IDC also measured maturity across the five key dimensions of the IDC MaturityScape framework.
 
The five critical dimensions which organisations need to understand are the following: Leadership, omni-experience, worksource, operating model, and information.
 
The IDC MaturityScape Benchmark: Digital Transformation in Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) provides sub-regional insights based on the analysis of 13 countries across the region (Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam), and Industry insights; as well as discusses key examples of Asia Pacific innovation.
 
Key findings from the research include:
 

• The overall trend of the maturity stages across all the dimensions is quite consistent, although there are some notable points, including that Leadership DX, Omni-Experience DX, and Information DX are the dimensions most difficult to reach the managed or optimized stage for organisations in Asia Pacific.

• The ANZ (Australia/ New Zealand) sub-region is the most mature of Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) and its results are more similar to respondents in the United States than the total results at the APEJ level.

• Financial services, communications and healthcare show the most relative maturity at the overall DX level.

“DX is not just another technology trend, but a critical business priority for many CEOs (chief executive officers) and their leadership teams across AsiaPacific,” said Jimenez.
 
“Processes and business models that were optimal a few years ago are now outdated – or simply don’t provide the speed and agility required to compete.
 
“The fact that the majority of Asia Pacific organisations are in the first two stages of maturity shows that digital transformation is not as simple as buying a technology solution.
 
“DX involves a radical rethink of how to do business. To be successful, organisations need to focus on developing the vision and strategy for digital transformation of products, services, and experiences to deliver value to partners, customers, and employees,” he added.
 
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