Forrester report tackles ways to overcome APAC software strategy execution challenges

Achieving peak performance in executing a software strategy remains an issue for many, according to Forrester data.

A new report released by Forrester reveals cloud, security and IT finance management are among top APAC tech investment areas.

But The State of The Software Market in Asia Pacific, 2023 shows that achieving peak performance in executing a software strategy remains an issue for many – with APAC software decision-makers most often naming budget constraints as an obstacle to executing their firm’s strategy and realizing the expected business benefits.

Other key obstacles fall into these main categories:

• Business/IT alignment. In APAC, 20% of software decision-makers say that the execution of their software strategy suffers from a lack of alignment between IT and the business; 16% from lack of coordination between operations technology teams; 14% from a lack of executive support; and 13% from a lack of business unit alignment.

• Technology capabilities. Among software decision-makers in APAC, 18% say that the execution of their software strategy suffers from security challenges; 17% from the cost of replacing legacy systems; 15% from technical debt diverting resources from innovation; and 13% from the inflexibility of existing applications.

• Organisational culture and talent. Among APAC software decision-makers, 18% say that the execution of their software strategy suffers from inadequate user training; 14% from an inflexible culture; and 13% from a lack of relevant internal skills.

Software initiative focus varies across countries, but AI is a common theme, highlighting its importance to strategic IT advances.

Other areas of focus include:

• CX is particularly important in India and Australia. CX is among the five departments that software decision-makers in Australia, India, Japan and Malaysia most often cited as a focus for software strategy and investment.

In Australia, tech-forward citizens and global business expectations push firms to deliver the best CX.

For example, Australian supermarket chain Woolworths built a smart interactive voice response system powered by conversational AI to handle customer inquiries. The voicebot called Olive, can recognise more than 30,000 products and process refunds and order updates without human intervention.

• In Southeast Asia, software decision-makers are all in on digital business. In the region’s most populous nation, Indonesia, the majority of leaders cited digital business as the focus of their company’s software strategy and investments. With the largest consumer market next to China and India, Indonesia has become a hotbed of public cloud competition as local and multinational firms seek access to its fast-growing e-commerce economy.

Frederic Giron, VP, Senior Research Director at Forrester and lead author of the report said: “Software strategies play a key role in enabling enterprises in Asia Pacific to power high-performance IT. Despite challenges in aligning IT and business objectives, enterprises are prioritising revenue growth, customer expansion and product development. AI is emerging as a key focus across a variety of software initiatives, highlighting its importance to strategic IT advances.”