Telstra recently published research exploring how 512 ICT and business decision makers in north Asia adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic and how they see their future IT strategy. Specifically, the research sought to discover the impacts of rapid digital transformation over the course of 2020 as well as future shifts in strategy.
Working with Kantar, an independent market research company, Telstra surveyed decision makers across north Asia in major hubs based in mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. The research surveyed the digital needs and challenges that businesses in these markets have experienced during this period of intense growth and digital transformation, as well as their subsequently evolving ICT investment priorities.
In the inaugural report, “Navigating disruption: The future of agile business success” Telstra found that digital transformation needs were already high, but priorities have since changed. As businesses in north Asia and around the globe began to work from home and move services online, the demands on networks, IT systems and transformation projects grew immediately.
The changes to the way organisations will continue to work are permanent, with 96 per cent of businesses agreeing that the move to remote work fundamentally changed their business. The need for collaboration solutions is here to stay as hybrid working models, combining office and remote working, emerge.
The report emphasised that the biggest obstacles to fostering a successful hybrid environment and enabling successful remote working for employees are primarily digital, with cyber security highlighted as a key challenge in all markets during the switch to remote working. Connectivity, infrastructure issues and provisioning of technical support are other key remote working challenges currently facing businesses.
Telstra’s findings highlight the heightened need to maintain cybersecurity and compliance has caused project costs to escalate. In fact, seven in 10 north Asian businesses have seen an increase in digital transformation project investments owing to the pandemic with cybersecurity protection and compliance measures being cited amongst the top three technological obstacles to digital transformation projects.
“Doing business in 2021 is not easy – it requires resilience, foresight and nerve,” said Paul Abfalter, Head of North Asia and Global Wholesale at Telstra. “Businesses have risen to the challenge of adapting to the reality of remote working by rapidly putting policies in place which let employees easily stay connected and work from home. However there is still work to do, as businesses need a holistic digital transformation plan which brings together connectivity, cloud, collaboration and security.”
The research also found that 58 per cent of businesses in north Asia are considering cybersecurity cloud solutions as a tool to support their employees over the next 12-18 months. Seventy-eight per cent are introducing immediate measures to protect against security threats as a top ICT investment priority, describing this shift in importance as a direct result of COVID-19. Tangentially, 60 per cent of organisations are aiming to increase their cyber security ICT spend to enable this urgent shift in priorities.
“There is no doubt turning vision into strategy and action can be difficult, and the dramatic shift to support remote working has made things even harder. That is why it is crucial to find the right transformation partner for your business,” Mr Abfalter added.
