Companies in the Asia-Pacific region are reassessing their digital capabilities with new urgency as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Research conducted on behalf of Adobe by Forrester Consulting has revealed that APAC organizations are at a higher risk than their counterparts in other parts of the world due to a shortfall in digital alternatives to traditional ways of doing business.
Decision-makers are, however, realizing the importance of digitizing document processes with the ability to share, review, sign and store documents virtually. These capabilities serve as the foundations of business agility and ongoing resilience in a time of uncertainty.
Similarly, employers in APAC countries are coming around to the conclusion that accepted ways of working have changed irrevocably. Fully 36 percent of the workforce in APAC will continue to work remotely even after the pandemic has passed, up 15 percent from before the health crisis and the biggest jump among all the regions surveyed.
Yet much remains to be done to bring APAC firms up to the levels of digitization enjoyed elsewhere. Just 13 percent of organizations, for example, consider e-signatures to be a standard protocol, a sharp contrast with the 62 percent of firms in North America.
As a consequence, APAC firms – and particularly those with limited digital document processes – are at risk of losing customers and revenue.
No e-signature? You’re missing out in the “new normal.”
- APAC organizations report that 43 percent of their revenue is at risk due to a lack of digital alternatives to doing business.
- Companies in the APAC region are accelerating the introduction of digital document processes to create new business opportunities.
- APAC organizations, however, still lag behind their counterparts in the rest of the world, with 40 percent of firms currently using digital document processes, compared to 57 percent in North America.
- Digital document processes are increasingly being considered as an integral part of the IT landscape.
- The perception of digital document processes is shifting from an operational need to a strategic requirement that improves customer satisfaction.