Asean businesses starting to take innovation seriously: Survey

  • IT budgets shifting towards innovation, rather than just maintenance and ops
  • Top technologies being considered: Virtualization, security, mobile, cloud and green IT

Asean businesses starting to take innovation seriously: SurveyBUSINESSES in Asia South are experiencing a mindset shift in terms of innovation investment, according to a survey by CA Technologies and IDC titled IDC Asia South C-Suite Innovation Barometer Survey: Are You Innovation Ready?.
 
This is a signal that Asean-based C-level executives recognize a growing need to innovate for business success in an increasingly competitive marketplace, CA Technologies said in a statement.
 
In an IDC white paper sponsored by CA Technologies, a survey was conducted in July with over 120 IT decision makers from businesses across Asia South (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand) to discover how views and strategies for ICT investments vary in the region.
 
With rising operation costs and the need to continually engage customers on new platforms being key concerns, business leaders in Asia South are looking for innovative IT initiatives that can transform their businesses in the rapidly changing economy, CA Technologies said.
 
There is a pressing need to accelerate development cycles and transform processes to match customer needs, while securing the broad range of devices and platforms to access data on cloud, virtual or mobile assets.
 
Top technologies that are being considered for 2012 and 2013 by Asia South businesses were virtualization, security, mobile, cloud and green IT. Furthermore, 70% of all respondents cited business process transformation as an IT-led innovation that their organization is currently investing in.
 
With budget allocations for IT innovation typically assigned according to a traditional 80/20 principle, with 20% allocated for innovation-related initiatives, and 80% dedicated to day-to-day operations and maintenance costs, the Asia South market has demonstrated a mindset shift in terms of its strategy on IT-led innovation.
 
An average of 38% of budgets was allocated for innovation in 2012, as opposed to the expected 20%, CA Technologies said.
 
This figure is expected to be 39.8% for 2013, indicating an increasing emphasis on investing in innovation as a strategy for growth and differentiation.
 
Furthermore, 75% of CEOs or CIOs in Asia South are seen as enablers, champions or experts on innovation. Only 25% play no major role or are seen as barriers to innovation.
 
Asean businesses starting to take innovation seriously: SurveyIn the typically top-down culture of Asia South markets, this is a promising sign of having lead stakeholders playing a pivotal role in driving innovation for their organizations.
 
“IDC believes that organizations need to first achieve a level of effectiveness in harnessing IT, followed by aligning IT with business priorities, before driving IT-led innovations to achieve desired outcomes,” said Sandra Ng (pic), group vice president, Practice Group, IDC Asia/Pacific.
 
“By identifying the key influencers in their leadership and working strategically to plan and invest in IT-led innovation, businesses can directly address some of their key business concerns in challenging economic environments.”
 
“The landscape in Asia South is very dynamic and highly competitive,” said Victor Cheng, vice president, Asia South, CA Technologies.
 
“Businesses can look to IT-led innovations to address specific business issues such as cost optimisation or how to increase customer engagement in order to remain relevant in today’s economy,” he added.

 
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