Legacy IT systems and rigid infrastructure are holding Hong Kong companies back from achieving digital transformation, new research indicates.
A survey of IT decision makers, conducted by Tech Research Asia for Telstra, shows that 83% of Hong Kong respondents feel that their companies are exposed to digital disruption - the highest among the eight countries surveyed.
As a result, 81% of Hong Kong respondents feel that organizations are actively trying to disrupt the market by digitizing the business - the highest of all countries - and 94% feel their organization has a clearly articulated digital transformation strategy.
But more than half (64%) feel that their ability to work effectively as an integrated team is hindered by rigid technology platforms, and 74% say they could be more dynamic if their technology platform was more flexible and agile.
“Legacy infrastructure continues to be one of the biggest barriers to change and businesses realizing the benefits of digital transformation. While it often requires significant investment in new infrastructure to overcome, it cannot be ignored. Digitization is one of the most effective ways of improving operations, increasing speed to market, focusing on customer-centricity and realizing efficiencies,” Telstra director of international marketing, products and pricing Jim Clarke said.
“While the adoption of cloud-based ‘as a service’ technology has brought huge benefits to many operations such as scalable infrastructure and better utilization, companies still need the flexibility and underlying connectivity necessary to maintain or enhance a competitive advantage in the marketplace.”
Respondents to the survey called out an the length of time taken for IT projects and an over-reliance on IT intermediaries as key sources of frustration.
The top three motivations driving IT transformation among Hong Kong organizations are reducing costs by improving operating efficiencies (64%), responding to new competition (61%) and expanding organically or via acquisitions into new markets or geographies (58%).
Hong Kong organizations with a digital transformation strategy have indicated that their main priority technology investment areas include security (51%), big data and analytics (49%) and hybrid cloud (48%).
The most common digital transformation priorities are improving the customer experience (47%), driving down costs (44%) and streamlining operations (40%).