Nearly half of Singapore firms 'in denial' about need for digital transformation

SINGAPORE organisations are not fully embracing the digital economy fast enough.

A global survey of 700 business leaders by Nasdaq-listed enterprise software company Progress has found that all Singapore organisations view digital transformation as important or critical. But nearly half (49 per cent) of the polled Singapore organisations are "in denial" about the need to transform digitally. This compares to the global figure of 62 per cent.

Just over 90 per cent of Singapore organisations say they have two years to make digital inroads before suffering financial or competitive consequences. Some 49 per cent of them are less optimistic, saying they have a year or less, while 43 per cent are worried they may "already be too late".

The survey "Are Businesses Really Digitally Transforming or Living in Digital Denial?", conducted in the first quarter of 2016, aims to better understand how business leaders view digital transformation and learn their plans so as to better address their challenges.

Respondents are a mix of C-suite executives, marketing and IT heads, as well as developers, who come from 10 countries including Singapore, Australia, the UK and the United States.