Rapid digitalization is happening across all industries and corners of the globe. In Asia in particular, there have been several leaps forward across telecommunications, retail, healthcare, finance and more. We deep dive into these innovations and uncover the opportunities for growth.
Following the Data – State of the Digital Market
In 2015, the Gartner Hype Cycle predicted that the maturity for emerging technologies such as machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain would reach the plateau of productivity in 5 to 10 years. Today, global research efforts are paying off and making this a reality. Low cost IoT sensors are mapping more of the physical world into the digital. Big Data and Artificial Intelligence engines are connecting the dots and powering new applications to work smarter and faster than ever before. As the world moves towards a smart and digital society, Asia has been quick to embrace these new technologies. This growth is evident from the demand of cloud infrastructure and data centres needed to support the increasing volume, variety and velocity of data created. Data infrastructure providers are relocating to Asia to provide strong and reliable connectivity for their customers. The APAC data centre market is set to reach US$28 billion by 2024, taking over North America as the largest data centre market worldwide. Southeast Asia will be the fastest growing region for co-location data centres, expecting to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 14 percent for the next 5 years (Cushman & Wakefield report). Another indication of adoption in Asia can be seen in digital advertising. Advertisers turn to digital content and spending to capture the prolific ‘mobile first’ audience located here. With a positive outlook of 20 percent, it is one of the most flourishing markets in the world (Coull report).
Rapid digitalization is happening across all industries and corners of the globe. In Asia in particular, there have been several leaps forward across telecommunications, retail, healthcare, finance and more. We deep dive into these innovations and uncover the opportunities for growth.
Following the Data – State of the Digital Market
In 2015, the Gartner Hype Cycle predicted that the maturity for emerging technologies such as machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain would reach the plateau of productivity in 5 to 10 years. Today, global research efforts are paying off and making this a reality. Low cost IoT sensors are mapping more of the physical world into the digital. Big Data and Artificial Intelligence engines are connecting the dots and powering new applications to work smarter and faster than ever before. As the world moves towards a smart and digital society, Asia has been quick to embrace these new technologies. This growth is evident from the demand of cloud infrastructure and data centres needed to support the increasing volume, variety and velocity of data created. Data infrastructure providers are relocating to Asia to provide strong and reliable connectivity for their customers. The APAC data centre market is set to reach US$28 billion by 2024, taking over North America as the largest data centre market worldwide. Southeast Asia will be the fastest growing region for co-location data centres, expecting to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 14 percent for the next 5 years (Cushman & Wakefield report). Another indication of adoption in Asia can be seen in digital advertising. Advertisers turn to digital content and spending to capture the prolific ‘mobile first’ audience located here. With a positive outlook of 20 percent, it is one of the most flourishing markets in the world (Coull report).
Asian Governments are Going All In
Governments in Asia are leading the charge towards building digital and smart cities. Tech titan China paves the way and among their many initiatives, the smart internet based on a 5G network is one of the cornerstones for the next generation of developments. The high-speed network aims to eliminate processing delays between billions of machines and stimulate the IoT industry. Southeast Asian nations are not falling behind. The ASEAN Smart Cities Network (ASCN) program was announced at the 32nd ASEAN Summit, naming 26 pilot cities that will work towards the common goal of developing sustainable smart cities (ASEAN Org). Manila, the capital of Philippines, is moving their command centre to the cloud to improve responsiveness for traffic, peace keeping and disaster monitoring. In Thailand, Phuket is leveraging big data, IoT and video analytics on an expanding network of CCTVs and Wi-Fi coverage to improve public safety. Singapore spearheads blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) for inter-bank settlement of payments and has set its sights on a digitalised Singapore Dollar. The push for smart cities also means sizable investments and political support to fast track approvals and implementation of such projects. In the recent report “Smart Cities, Shifting Asia”, UBS casts a spotlight on the region and projects that APAC will account for 40% of global smart city spending, or $800 billion by 2025 (UBS report).
An Agile Private Sector
Businesses are also pivoting to these new technologies to stay competitive. As the prevalence of SaaS converges with data engineering, these capabilities are more widely available and commercially adopted. Indonesia’s digital payment service firm OVO taps into big data and analytics to derive insights on digital lifestyle and shopping trends. Lazada, Southeast Asia’s answer to Amazon, also embraced these emerging technologies to display products to users based on their browsing history. China’s WeDoctor moved from being an online teleconsulting booking platform and developed HuaTuo AI Doctor, a cloud-based traditional Chinese medicine diagnosis system running on a large medical database and AI engine to give accurate treatments (WeDoctor). These examples are only the tip of the iceberg. An interview by Mckinsey on Digital Innovation in Asia reveals that the climate in Asia is prime for new technologies and businesses are exploiting these opportunity to leapfrog (Mckinsey).
Conclusion – What’s Next?
Digitalisation today goes beyond just replacing analog or paper processes that may have been the norm or tradition for many years within businesses. Each of these smart city initiatives and business transformation projects in Asia may be pursuing a different combination of strategies, players and technologies. However, they are all planning ahead for sustainable growth and Asia is on track to provide the best user and business experiences in the world.