APEJ companies to prioritize modernization, innovation of communication towards connectivity

IDC has published the Asia/Pacific* contextualized worldwide Future of Connectedness predictions for 2022 and beyond titled IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Future of Connectedness 2022 Predictions — Asia/Pacific (Excluding Japan) Implications.

The world continues to adjust to the COVID-19 pandemic with cycles of change and adaptation across industries. The latest IDC wave surveys suggest that modernization of communications networks in the Asia/Pacific region continues to escalate in priorities with spending plans up from the levels of 2021, indicating that enterprises plan to lean into connectivity strategies to enable delivery of the digital enterprise.

“As we start the year, the focus on executing on a Digital-First strategy remains top of mind for the C-Suite. Leveraging and expanding existing connectivity networks along with innovations offered by virtual networking and 5G has become an enabler to accelerate digital transformation to take advantage of the new normal and become leaders in their field”, says Hugh Ujhazy, Vice President, for Telecom and IOT at IDC Asia/Pacific.

As enterprises in the region push to accelerate their transformation timelines, finding the right skills to support new digital initiatives is proving to be a challenge. The war on good talent has taken its toll on enterprises, with 48% of surveyed firms indicating that re-allocating network administrator roles to become business partners have emerged as significant challenges enterprises now face on their digitalization journey.

Additionally, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) topics are finding increasing resonance and change and inclusivity on the global stage.

Here are the top 10 key Future of Connectedness predictions that will impact both technology buyers and suppliers in Asia/Pacific for 2022 and beyond:

#1: Network/IT Resource Skills: By 2023, midsize to large enterprises across APEJ will transition 50% of IT staff driving connectedness from legacy network support operations to strategic business outcomes and technology innovation.

#2: Branch of One 2.0: By 2024, 60% of APEJ-based contact centers supporting finance, retail, and hospitality industries will adopt Branch of One architectures, enabling efficient and secure enterprise-class work-from-anywhere experiences.

#3: Wireless-First Strategy: In 2024, wireless first will become mainstream for wide area connectivity, accelerating 65% of enterprise, industrial, and public sector organization investments to “untether” their operations.

#4: Mitigating Network Outages: By 2025, A2000 will still experience two to three systemic service provider network outages per year, showcasing the importance of added investments in connectivity redundancy and service resiliency.

#5: Data and Connectivity Sovereignty: By 2024, 40% of APEJ organizations will use a joint telco/cloud provider sovereign cloud running on local infrastructure to ensure compliance and limit extraterritorial connectivity, access, and data movement.

#6: Seamless Virtual and Physical Connectedness: By 2023, 60% of A2000 will implement hybrid intelligent connectivity that links physical marketplaces to digital storefronts and supply chains to facilitate seamless commerce transactions.

#7: Sustainability and the Network: By 2023, 40% of A2000 will expect sustainability goals to be addressed in RFI responses, demonstrating responsible supply chain principles and secure IT asset disposition capabilities.

#8: Rich Media Services: By 2024, 80% of APEJ enterprises will need to transform their networks and processes to deliver more personalized and interactive online rich media experiences that meet and satisfy customer expectations.

#9: Network-as-a-Service Becomes Pervasive: By 2025, 30% of midsize to large APEJ enterprises will adopt NaaS to enable operational agility, service customization, and flexible consumption models that support complex network and multicloud environments.

#10: Connectivity Resiliency: In 2022, more than 50% of organizations across APEJ will prioritize connectivity resiliency to ensure business continuity, resulting in uninterrupted digital engagement for customers, employees, and partners.

“Since the COVID 19 pandemic disruption, enterprise spending on connectivity is more strategic and has an increased priority to enable ‘branch of one’ operations following the pandemic,” says Nikhil Batra, Associate Research Director, Telecom & IOT research, IDC Asia/Pacific. ” Multiple IDC surveys have indicated that buyers are moving beyond cost-saving to capitalise on cloud-based collaboration and other applications while modernizing their networks to support the highly distributed enterprise in a secure and resilient manner.”

CT Bureau