Singapore, 21 Feb 2018 – Digital transformation in the economy will add approximately US$10 billion to Singapore’s gross domestic product (GDP) and increase GDP growth at an annual rate of 0.6% by 2021.
Tech giant Microsoft and market researcher IDC Asia surveyed over 1,500 business leaders in mid- and large-sized organisations from 15 countries and territories in the Asia-Pacific, of whom 100 respondents were from Singapore.
As digital technologies continue to play a bigger role in the economy, digital products and services created directly through the use of digital technologies – such as cloud-related products and artificial intelligence (AI) – are poised to make up 60% of the country’s GDP by 2021, up from 10% in 2017.
Moreover, the findings revealed that 98% of the organisations surveyed in Singapore have already embarked on digital transformation initiatives.
According to the firms, adopting digital transformation initiatives has resulted in higher profit margins, greater productivity, increased revenue from new product offerings, improved customer advocacy and cost reduction.
In addition, the local business leaders surveyed felt digital transformation holds additional economic benefits such as increased educational and training opportunities, the creation of higher-value jobs, and opportunities to take up digital-related freelance work.
Unsurprisingly, respondents here felt that 93% of jobs in Singapore will be transformed in the next three years and 62% of the jobs in the market will be redeployed to higher-value roles or reskilled to meet the needs of the digital economy.
Despite the high uptake in digital transformation in Singapore, only 7% of companies in the region were considered leaders in this area. And there is a pressing need for organisations to adopt a leaders’ mindset to fully build their digital ecosystem – from employees, to customers, to partners – in order to grow their value chain.
Organisations in Asia-Pacific will need to accelerate their digital transformation journey to reap the full benefits from their initiatives, and to address the invisible revolution brought about by the mass adoption of AI.
In order to be a digital transformation leader, Microsoft suggested companies create a digital culture, build a digital ecosystem, embrace micro-revolutions, bet big on AI and develop future-ready skills for individuals and the organisation.
