Gearing Up for Growth? Go Digital First

Southeast Asia leads the world in embracing digital technologies,  according to VMware, Inc., a leading innovator in enterprise software. In a newly released VMware Digital Frontiers 3.0 Study, the company found that 78% of Southeast Asian  consumers define themselves as “digitally curious” or “digital explorers” who look forward to  organizations delivering more digital experiences and services. This puts consumers in the region  ahead of their global counterparts from the US (59%), France (55%), Germany (57%) and the UK  (64%). 

Southeast Asian businesses and governments appear to have reaped the benefits of technology  investments made in 2020 to manage the shift of life and business into the digital space, as their  customers give them high marks. According to the study, approximately 69% of consumers in  Southeast Asia report that while 2020 had forced them to engage with organizations digitally, they  found the experience to be enjoyable. This contrasts with the rest of the world: US (40%), France  (40%), Germany (33%) and UK (33%). In Southeast Asia, key industries such as Financial Services,  Government and Retail lead the region’s digital transformation, with respondents saying that they  are now happy to keep engaging with Financial Services (63%), Retail (60%) and Government (42%)  organizations through digital means.  

“Southeast Asian’s openness to richer digital experiences is a clarion call for organizations to step up  their technology pivot to innovate swiftly and more securely, so they can meet the growing  expectations from consumers,” said Sanjay K. Deshmukh, Vice President and Managing Director,  Southeast Asia and Korea, VMware. “Beyond responding to the initial shift in digital expectations,  the key to unlocking greater growth is the delivery of superior digital experiences that delight Southeast Asian consumers. This means as businesses adapt and accelerate to the digital future,  they must be able to develop, deliver and better secure applications and services seamlessly across  platforms, devices and locations to digitally-hungry end users.”  

Reflecting the new digital reality that businesses in the region now compete in, up to 77% of  Southeast Asian consumers stated that they have started engaging with brands that delivered  superior digital experiences, while 59% stated that they will switch to a competitor if the ongoing  digital experience they have does not live up to expectations. In a bid to capture this market  opportunity, organizations must enable the security, user experience and speed of the digital  services they offer. This is reflected in the top three critical digital experiences that Southeast Asian  consumers value most: high level of protection for personal data (58%), ease of access all platforms  and devices (45%) and faster speed of service (40%). 

The study also found that in Southeast Asia, certain industries fared better in terms of meeting  consumer expectations in 2020, with respondents stating that Financial Services (57%), Retail (56%)  and Government (38%) organizations delivered improved digital experiences now compared to  before the Covid-19 pandemic. Across the region, Financial Services and Government organizations

lead other industries when it comes to trust, with respondents stating that Financial Services (58%)  and Government (40%) provide them with the assurance that their personal data is well protected. 

The digital expectation from Southeast Asian consumers is set to continue growing, with those  surveyed saying they find Financial Services (55%), Retail (57%) and Government (34%) more exciting  to engage with because of the digital services they offer.  

VMware innovations enable Southeast Asian organizations to drive greater digital transformation  outcomes, adapt to new digital frontier, and accelerate growth and recovery 

For organizations in the region, recovery and growth rest on leveraging innovations that enable them to adapt and accelerate in the new digital frontier. In a fast-changing business environment,  digital transformation is key to unlocking greater market opportunities in the region’s dynamic  digital economy. VMware’s portfolio of cloud and app modernization, networking, security, and  digital workspace anywhere platforms form a flexible and consistent digital foundation that enables  organisations to deliver powerful and personalized digital experiences to end users seamlessly and  more securely. 

Accelerating infrastructure and application modernization: The updated VMware Tanzu portfolio  brings support across VMware Cloud on AWS, Azure VMware Solution, and Oracle Cloud VMware  Solution. VMware Tanzu is a portfolio of products and services for modernizing applications and  infrastructure with a common goal: deliver better software to production, continuously.  

Empowering organizations to build their multi-cloud future: Advancements to VMware’s cloud  portfolio enables customers and partners to unlock multi-cloud’s full potential value by providing  more developer freedom while providing IT with consistent and efficient security and operations. SaltStack will also enable VMware to significantly broaden its software configuration management  and infrastructure and network automation capabilities. 

Advancing security for distributed workforces, public and private clouds: VMware Carbon Black  Cloud Workload delivers advanced protection purpose-built for better securing modern workloads  to reduce the attack surface and strengthen security posture. This enables Chief Information  Security Officers (CISOs) to intelligently manage and better secure access to any app, on any cloud,  delivered to any device, as they build resilient and future-ready businesses.  

Future-ready workforce solutions for the distributed workforce: VMware’s Future Ready Workforce  solutions combine VMware Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), Digital Workspace and Endpoint  Security capabilities to help IT manage and optimize more secure access to any app, on any cloud,  from any device while providing a simple, high performant, and a safer user experience for the  distributed workforce. 

Networking innovations that connect and protect today’s distributed, multi-cloud enterprise: Innovations from VMware’s Virtual Cloud Network enable customers to create a modern network  that better supports current and future business initiatives, giving organizations the ability to manage the rapid shift to remote work, deliver traditional and modern applications faster and more  securely, and reduce the cost and complexity of connecting and protecting the distributed  enterprise. 

“VMware is committed to enabling organizations with digital innovations as they adapt and  accelerate into a new reality where digital experiences is king,” added Deshmukh. “As Southeast Asia  gears up for continued recovery and growth in the coming year, VMware will continue to leverage our industry-leading technologies to support organizations as they strengthen business resiliency,  while stepping up experimentation and innovation seamlessly and more securely to meet the  demands of the region’s digital-first consumers.”