Digital Strategies to Drive Sustainable Growth

The role of technology and its impact on consumers, businesses and economies points to opportunities for companies to refine their digital strategies to drive sustained growth in 2022 and beyond.

FREMONT, CA: Insights from top decision-makers and practitioners in the marketing and advertising industries across the Asia Pacific, Australia, and New Zealand are gathered in the latest Adobe survey, which was created in conjunction with Econsultancy.

Technology affects consumers, businesses, and economies and highlights ways that firms may improve their digital strategy to promote long-term growth in 2023 and beyond.

Global industries and economies have seen remarkable and significant transformations over the last two years. The COVID-19 problem has sped up online interactions and increased online usage for millions of people. Government initiatives to support digital transformation, particularly investments in wireless networks, have increased the acceptability and uptake of digital services in developing economies like Thailand and Indonesia.

Other regional markets have advanced their technological capability simultaneously and are starting a new period of extraordinary change and innovation. APAC digital pioneers establish international standards in eCommerce, virtualising services in healthcare and education, smart mobility, and digital urbanisation to improve manufacturing capabilities, local specialised skills, and a sizable consumer base of digital enthusiasts.

These digital trends' size and speed are consolidating consumer needs and behaviour changes. Seventy-seven per cent of the APAC practitioners surveyed a spike in new clientele through digital channels, and 76 per cent said they had noticed novel and evolving customer experiences.

Businesses that adopt an agile mindset, collaborate, and accelerate time-to-value will have opportunities due to this rewiring of customer attitudes in the Asia Pacific region. Companies that overcome organisational and technological divisions and collaborate across functions to move fast stood out in the past.

Many APAC organisations are currently faced with the challenge of integrating the agile approaches created in crisis war rooms into long-term business operations. According to this paper, many businesses suffer from ingrained working cultures, mindsets, and procedures that make it challenging to adapt to changing consumer preferences and market dynamics.

Limited access to digital skills and capabilities is a result of antiquated working procedures paired with rising employee expectations in the new era of remote and hybrid work. 83 per cent of top executives are concerned about the organisation's need for specific capabilities. Skill shortages are perceived as bigger obstacles to successful experience delivery in APAC than they are in any other region in this study, despite the region having a huge pool of IT talent.

The change will remain a top priority in business in 2022. The speed of change experienced in 2020 and 2021 is expected to continue for the foreseeable future, according to 85 per cent of senior executives in APAC.

Collaboration: According to 77 per cent of senior APAC executives, marketing and IT must have a shared vision to unleash creativity and innovation. Only 27 per cent of respondents feel that their disparate marketing and IT teams now work well together.

Optimisation: According to 54 per cent of APAC practitioners, if businesses want to boost team productivity in the new hybrid workplace, they need to invest in work and project management tools.

Privacy: Businesses in the APAC region are offering their customers more control over their data. According to 64 per cent of APAC practitioners, their company is very effective at letting customers decide how their data is used.

Personalisation: APAC businesses are putting more emphasis on using consent-based data to provide actual customer value. According to 60 per cent of APAC practitioners, their company uses first-party data to personalise the customer experience effectively or very effectively.