Transform or Be Left Behind: IDC Asia/Pacific Predicts Digital Transformation and 3rd Platform Adoption to Scale Massively in 2017

06 Nov 2015

Singapore, November 06, 2015 – IDC Asia/Pacific announced today its top predictions for the region and highlights how digital transformation (DX) is accelerating growth on the 3rd platform and challenging current CIO leadership model.

IDC Asia/Pacific predicts that by the end of 2017, 60% of APAC 1000 (A1000) enterprises will have digital transformation (DX) at the center of their corporate strategy, with majority even creating an independent position to oversee the DX strategy implementation.

“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 3rd Platform technologies in order to stake out leadership positions in the hyper-digital economy”, says Sandra Ng , Group Vice President, Practice, IDC Asia/Pacific.

This year, IDC’s top predictions are re-branded as IDC FutureScapes for both tech buyers/CxOs and ICT suppliers. There are three inter-related mega themes this year. At the Singapore event today, Sandra Ng will be sharing the top 10 predictions from these mega themes to highlight the biggest impact in the Asia/Pacific region.

#1: CEO-led strategy in DX. By the end of 2017, 60% of the APAC top 1000 (A1000) enterprises will have digital transformation (DX) at the center 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: 3rd platform IT. By 2017, over 60% of organizations' ICT spending will be for 3rd platform technologies, solutions and services, rising to nearly 80% by 2020.

#4: Customer/intimacy at scale. By 2018, 80% of B2C and 60% of B2B organizations 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 organizations 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 digitalization of nations, economies, industry ecosystems and enterprises are pushing new competitive benchmarks in areas of business process excellence and new monetization/business models. 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”, added Sandra Ng.

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 December 7, 2015 to be led by IDC Group Vice President for Practice, Sandra Ng. To register for this webcast, please click http://to.idc.asia/FutureScapesWebinarDec7

IDC’s Top 10 predictions for the Asia/Pacific market are presented in full detail in the following FutureScapes documents: IDC FutureScape: Worldwide IT Industry 2016 Predictions — Leading Digital Transformation to Scale APEJ Implications (AP257623); IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Digital Transformation (DX) 2016 Predictions APeJ Implications (AP257627); IDC FutureScape: Worldwide CIO Agenda 2016 Predictions APeJ Implications (AP257628).