Sydney, NSW – December 7th, 2020 – Edge computing is reshaping IT strategy across the Asia Pacific, with ‘hybrid IT’ coming to the fore, according to detailed research by Tech Research Asia’s (TRA), commissioned by digital transformation leader Schneider Electric.
The research found 28 percent of IT leaders across Asia Pacific are leveraging edge computing across multiple sites with an additional 38 percent stating they would adopt in the next 24 months.
The report includes insights from 15 Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and 1,100 technology leaders across various industries in Asia Pacific on the current state of IT, edge computing use and future plans, and includes more detailed findings on five industry segments.
“A significant number of organisations across Asia Pacific in the next few years will experience the power of edge computing,” said Trevor Clarke, Director, TRA. “While not everyone will be using the term ‘edge’, they will absolutely need edge sites and capabilities in order to succeed,” he added.
“TRA expects edge computing to play a pivotal role in IT strategies and digital economies over the next decade. It will drive new investment, new use cases, and improved outcomes for many organisations. It will not be a replacement for cloud computing or even traditional on-premises infrastructure, but will rather be a complementary force.”
Schneider Electric Vice President of Secure Power, Joe Craparotta, said the survey demonstrated the “importance of hybrid IT Architecture in all digital strategies. With 51 percent of respondents indicating
they will have a mix of cloud and on-premises infrastructure. We are clearly seeing the market trend that it is not “cloud only” or “on-premise only” but the combination of the two that will unlock the digital value for all market segments.”
“This report demonstrates the top reason IT leaders adopted edge computing was to address bandwidth and latency issues. This offers further evidence that there is significant value in deploying edge in today’s business environment where speed and greater efficiency is a competitive advantage,” said Mr Craparotta.
Edge computing complements cloud computing in a hybrid IT environment. While cloud computing leverages centralized data centres, edge computing leverages distributed micro data centres at the edge of the network, closer to where data is generated. The research shows the median number of distributed sites for companies is almost set to double within the next 24 months from 4 sites to 7.
The survey revealed that 72 percent of the respondents that have adopted edge computing saw benefits in terms of reduction in IT costs, followed by reduction in operational costs (46 percent) and increase in customer satisfaction (34 percent).
The survey was composed of extensive research and in-depth interviews with respondents across industries, based in Australia, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea, Philippines, and Taiwan.
Australian IT leaders were the leading proponents of edge computing, 62% said edge computing projects were a first rank priority over the next year, followed by 48 per cent for data centre modernisation and cloud computing.The results indicate Australia has moved on from its cloud-first period to a heavy focus on hybrid IT.
Edge computing benefits include reduction in IT and operational expenses
In terms of industries with the highest adoption rate, the higher education sector tops the list with 68 percent of organisations surveyed having adopted edge. Factors like the global pandemic and new learning models have made collaborations and sharing of resources among institutions more common.
Similarly, about half of those surveyed in the healthcare industry have adopted edge computing of which 80 percent are existing users of some form of cloud computing service. The research suggests the top reasons for this shift is to tackle bandwidth and latency issues, address security obligations and increase cost efficiency.
In financial services the survey indicated a preference for utilising edge computing over moving workloads to the cloud. 63 percent of Asia Pacific’s financial services industry organisations have adopted edge computing, compared to 22 percent of the respondents that said they will move all workloads to cloud.
Across the manufacturing sector, companies were generally pursuing a hybrid IT model with workloads located on a case-by-case basis. More than 70 per cent said they achieved better results utilising the cloud than was projected in their original business case.
In manufacturing nearly nine in ten respondents said data centre modernisation or cloud computing was a most urgent priority for next year, followed by 45 per cent for edge computing projects.
Current state of IT in Asia Pacific
The research highlighted several key points about the current state of infrastructure strategies across the 10 countries. Here are some of its findings:
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It is clear a workload-by-workload playbook is now the dominant approach to managing infrastructure in Asia Pacific. Businesses are no longer practicing a “cloud first” concept which influences their decision making.
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There is a slight rise in the expected number of owned data centres and use of colocation. A total of 21 percent of respondents plan to deploy new infrastructure.
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95 percent of respondents say they already use a Software as a Service (SaaS) today. This percentage will remain constant, although TRA expects SaaS growth to continue with organisations using more services over time.
Key report takeaways about edge computing adoption
The top use cases for edge computing include:
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Customer experience – using edge sites to provide better experiences and allow customers to access data and apps more securely and quickly.
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Employee Experience – reducing latency and allowing employees to be more productive, possibly with new IoT-driven functionality and experiences.
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Monitoring – enabling pro-active maintenance of equipment and machinery, monitoring the health of building and assets, and ensuring CCTV security monitoring.
Download the free report to learn more
Download the full report by TRA, The Edge in Asia Pacific: Research Findings
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