E-guide

IT Priorities 2022: APAC

enterprises invest in
digital future
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In this e-guide: Nearly two-thirds of enterprises in Asia-Pacific plan

In this e-guide
to increase their IT budgets next year in areas such as cloud
IT Priorities 2022: computing and cyber security to secure their digital future. This e-
APAC enterprises guide dives into the reasons as to how and why APAC enterprises
invest in digital future are leading their peers in the shift to a digital-first strategy.

IT Priorities 2022: APAC enterprises

invest in digital future
Aaron Tan, Executive Editor, APAC

Asia-Pacific (APAC) enterprises emerging from the throes of the pandemic are leading
their peers in the shift to digital-first with investments in key digital transformation
initiatives.

According to the 2022 TechTarget/Computer Weekly IT priorities survey, investments in

cyber security, cloud and automation are among the broad technology shifts that APAC
firms are making to secure their digital future.

Nearly half of more than 1,000 respondents in the APAC region noted that security and
risk management have become more important than before, followed by cloud

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computing (42%). Initiatives in digital workspaces and mobility (39%) and IT

In this e-guide automation are also high on the priority list.

IT Priorities 2022:
APAC enterprises
invest in digital future

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These priorities may be seen as a direct response to the challenges that APAC
In this e-guide enterprises are facing in helping employees cope with a hybrid work environment and
protecting themselves from the onslaught of cyber attacks.
IT Priorities 2022:
APAC enterprises The good news is that a majority of APAC enterprises have already received buy-in
invest in digital future from stakeholders to shore up their IT investments in 2022. Nearly two-thirds are
increasing their IT budgets while just 6% plan to reduce their technology spend. This is
a marked improvement compared to 2021 when just 15% of APAC enterprises planned
to spend more on IT.

Many large APAC enterprises are also driving “future of work” initiatives to ready their
workforce for the post-pandemic world, investing not only in productivity and
collaboration software, but also in tools and cloud platforms to increase business
agility.

According to the study, over 40% of the largest organisations in the region with more
than 10,000 employees are investing aggressively in future of work initiatives while just
15% of smaller firms are doing so, often due to the lack of digital skills and the high
cost of investment.

Underpinning the new investments is cloud computing, which has accelerated by leaps
and bounds across the APAC region during the pandemic. While cloud-first used to be
the exception, it is now the rule with nearly half of organisations planning to take a
cloud-first strategy.

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In this e-guide

IT Priorities 2022:
APAC enterprises
invest in digital future

That means investing in building blocks such as DevOps, internet of things, cloud
storage, customer experience and business continuity, which are among the top areas
cited by respondents as their cloud-first investments.

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Cloud storage, in particular, is leading the pack when it comes to cloud-related

In this e-guide investments in the region. More than half of APAC respondents plan to move more
storage to the cloud, along with cloud data management and protection tools.
IT Priorities 2022:
APAC enterprises This could be due to the dramatic rise in the number of ransomware attacks unleashed
invest in digital future on businesses large and small over the past year, driving companies to increase their
use of cloud storage as part of a disaster recovery strategy.

But the move to cloud involves more than just the use of public cloud services. More
APAC enterprises, from the largest banks to mid-sized retailers, are operating private
clouds in on-premise datacentres, which explains why a sizeable proportion (44%) wish
to invest in hybrid cloud management tools in 2022.

These include IT automation tools, orchestration tools and even hybrid cloud offerings
such as AWS Outposts and Azure Stack Hub that let organisations tap public cloud
services at edge locations and branch offices while allowing for data locality.

APAC organisations are also building more cloud-native applications. In 2022, about
four in 10 will invest more in microservices and containers, along with associated
capabilities such as continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD).

Meanwhile, packaged applications are not going away, particularly those that strike at
the heart of the business, such as enterprise resource planning where new investments
were put on hold due to the pandemic.

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Not surprisingly, investments in customer relationship management and e-commerce

In this e-guide are set to grow in 2022 as organisations seek new business and customer fulfilment
models.
IT Priorities 2022:
APAC enterprises
invest in digital future

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APAC enterprises are not doing it all alone in their digital transformation efforts. For
In this e-guide the first time, the number of respondents that plan to use managed services next year
grew to an all-time high of 93%.
IT Priorities 2022:
APAC enterprises The top three areas where managed services will be procured by APAC firms include
invest in digital future cloud migration, cyber security and IT service management.

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APAC enterprises
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