Businesses in Australia are upping the ante with “cloud-first” policies and digital transformation strategies and promoting environments conducive to industry participation, according to newly released research.
The report on Asia Pacific digital transformation, by communications and IT services company CenturyLink and 451 Research, found that there has been heightened corporate interest in Australia in augmenting multi-cloud strategies and leveraging big data analytics to drive operational excellence.
According to the study, undertaken by 451 for CentruryLink, transforming enterprises operate in a hybrid mode – "cloudifying" specific workloads/app tiers using the SaaS model while running database and critical applications in a traditional IT environment.
And, the study found that as far as security is concerned, the cloud security problem is diffused over many different service layers that are “unlikely to be resolved any time soon”.
{loadposition peter}But according to 451, the data locality approach to cloud implementation helps address concerns over data sovereignty as Australian companies are extending their IT operations to third-party public cloud environments.
“Acquiring IT expertise through working with external specialists seems to be a logical move, but the next challenge is to facilitate technology and skills transfer enablement,” the research notes.
Century Link says the stiudy shows that enterprises in Asia Pacific (APAC) are leading the way in digital transformation, with 57% of large companies across Asia Pacific now having a formal strategy for digital transformation and actively digitising some of their business processes.
This compares with 47% in Europe and 45% in North America, the study of more than 600 large enterprises across APAC found.
“In a global business economy dominated by disruption, reinvention and escalating threats, speed to market is of the essence,” said Gery Messer, CenturyLink managing director, Asia Pacific.
“While it’s encouraging to see the majority of enterprises in APAC have begun digital transformation projects, the complexity that surrounds their journeys can result in significant roadblocks.
“However, by simplifying the foundational steps behind digital adoption, APAC enterprises can focus their resources on innovation and customer experience, and truly lead the world in digital transformation.”
Messer says as the adoption of digital disrupts every industry, it is critical that large enterprises transform the way they do business to keep pace with the competition.
And, according to the study, the three key factors driving digital transformation are desires to improve customer experience (44%), manage risk (43%), and reduce operational costs (41%).
But, despite leading the way in embarking on digital transformation, the study found that majority of enterprises in APAC are mindful about how long it will take to successfully complete a full transformation within the organisation.
Almost two-thirds (63%) of respondents estimate that it will take three to six years to achieve a company-wide digital transformation, and another 7% estimate going beyond seven years.
According to Century link, this is largely due to the length of time it takes to overcome complexities that surround digital transformation, both from a business and a technological standpoint.
And study also found that the top three barriers to successful digital transformation identified by enterprises in APAC are:
- Potential failure to secure sensitive data – 35%;
- Inflexible IT systems and lack of operational agility – 32%; and
- Inability to migrate legacy IT and business applications to the cloud – 31%.
“Digital transformation programs are now being viewed as strategic, long-term initiatives that receive top-level executive backing in APAC,” said Agatha Poon, research director, APAC Services, 451 Research.
“Sixty-nine per cent of businesses are actually increasing their spending levels to push through the business benefits and commercial gains they expect as digital transformation outcomes.
“A critical aspect of these transformation roadmaps is entrusting some of the transformational fundamentals to third-party service providers, enabling business leaders to refocus internal resources on developing new services and applications to support innovative business initiatives.”