EXPERT OPINION FROM OUR COMMITTEES
2020 will be remembered as the year the world stood still . Amid the ongoing upheaval as the world settles into a ‘ new normal ’, organisations in Asia are on the precipice of unprecedented change . Facing the need to advance digital transformation plans by
five years just to survive in a postpandemic world , businesses must look ahead — beyond recovery — to gear up , transform and emerge even stronger .
For instance , Singapore has shifted its economic strategy in 2021 from “ from containment to restructuring .” The country is dedicating
S $ 24 billion to accelerate structural adaptation to the changing competitive landscape , which involves helping businesses innovate , transform and scale up .
Likewise , emerging Asia Pacific markets are expected to see a
4.7 per cent surge in IT spending in 2021 . Despite the uphill task of navigating tighter budget constraints , the opportunity lies in maximising the return on IT investments in the longer run .
This means deploying emerging technologies to augment existing digital systems and applications while they continue running , prioritising smart processes to optimise resources , and ensuring network security to protect businesses from additional disruptions .
Present meets future
With the dramatically increased digital demand triggered by the pandemic , there is no time like the present for undertaking new modernisation projects . Instead of continuing to defer IT maintenance on core business systems , IT leaders need to look to strategic modernisation . The ideal approach involves bridging existing core business applications and inhouse skills sets to new solutions rather than rip-and-replace .
Plenty of solutions come equipped with built-in data lake and associated analytic capabilities — think AIOps and SecOps . Connecting these data lakes makes it possible to automate and optimise organisations with the next generation of data analytics , business intelligence , and machine learning solutions . For instance , correlating the Identity Management and Enterprise Service Management data lakes will help to identify misuse or governance issues .