94 percent of SMBs in Asia Pacific say they have become more reliant on technology to ensure business continuity during COVID-19
Nearly 70 percent say they are accelerating the digitalization of their businesses as a result of COVID-19
Digitally mature SMBs enjoy higher revenues and increased productivity contributing to their growth and overall economic recovery
SINGAPORE, July 27, 2020 The digitalization of small and medium businesses (SMBs) in Asia Pacific could add US$2.6 to 3.1 trillion to Asia Pacific's GDP by 2024 and contribute to the region's economic recovery post COVID-19, according to the 2020 Asia Pacific SMB Digital Maturity Study.
Asia Pacific could add between US$10.6 to 14.6 trillion to its GDP by 2024, according to forecasts by International Data Corporation (IDC). Digitalization of SMBs could account for as much as 25 percent of that growth.
The study, based on a survey of SMBs from across the region conducted by IDC and commissioned by Cisco, shows that SMBs that are more digitally mature enjoy twice as many benefits in terms of revenue and productivity compared to those that have an indifferent approach to digitalization.
It highlights that nearly 70 percent of SMBs in Asia Pacific are accelerating the digitalization of their businesses as a result of COVID-19. Among the respondents, 86 percent say they believe digitalization will help in developing resilience against crises like COVID-19.
SMBs suffered the hardest impact in the current crisis but are expected to bounce back the fastest. This is not just because most of them have had to rely on technology to continue to deliver to their customers but also because of their agility and adaptability to innovate. As the region starts to emerge from the pandemic, this trend will play a pivotal role in the economic recovery. Cisco is committed to work with SMBs to help them emerge stronger with the right digital solutions and strategy, said Bidhan Roy, Managing Director, Small Business, Asia Pacific, Japan and China, Cisco.
The results of the study show that cloud (15 percent), a foundational pillar for digitalization, is the top technology investment priority for SMBs in Asia Pacific, followed by security (12 percent) and purchase or upgrade of IT infrastructure software (12 percent).
However, SMBs are also facing challenges on this front. According to the respondents, shortage of digital skills and access to talent is the top hurdle (17 percent) for SMBs in their digital transformation efforts. This is followed by the lack of necessary technologies to enable digital transformation (14 percent).
SMBs have an unprecedented opportunity. However, for them to derive the greatest long-term value, all stakeholders need to come together to address the key issues faced by the industry. This includes government, educational institutions, large corporations, and industry bodies. No one entity can solve these alone. At Cisco, we are proud to be playing our part. From a talent perspective, the Cisco Networking Academy has trained over 2.5 million students across Asia Pacific, Japan and China in various ICT skills since its inception. On the technology front, we have launched a series of curated products and solutions specifically for the SMB sector under the Cisco Designed portfolio, Bidhan added.
Despite the challenges, the region's SMBs continue to make progress in their digitalization journeys. According to the study, 16 percent of SMBs in the region are now in the advanced digital maturity stages (3 and 4), compared to 11 percent in 2019. Slightly more than half of SMBs have embraced digitalization to become Digital Observers (stage 2). Only 31 percent of SMBs are still reactive to market changes and have made hardly any efforts to transform digitally (stage 1).
Within the region, SMBs in Singapore, Japan, and New Zealand continue to lead the Digital Observer group, with no changes in their ranking compared to 2019. However, mainland China, Taiwan, and Thailand surpassed Korea, Hong Kong, and Malaysia, respectively. There has been notable progress made by SMBs in Indonesia and Vietnam.
Digitalization is no longer an option for SMBs its a matter of survival. COVID-19 has forced them to move to digital-first, becoming more dependent on technologies to ensure business continuity and resiliency. As SMBs rethink processes, operations, and customer engagements, they are looking at cloud services and cybersecurity first, but have also increased their focus on customer experience, video conferencing and AI/Analytics solutions. Given the rapidly changing market conditions and speed of technology evolution, SMBs should work with the right industry partners to ensure they can maximize their technology investments and thrive in their digitalization journeys, said Daniel-Zoe Jimenez, AVP, Head Digital Transformation & SMB research at IDC.
This year's study is a follow-up to the 2019 SMB Digital Maturity Index' that looked at the state of digital adoption of SMBs across the region. The 2020 study aims to further the understanding of how SMBs can progress in their digital transformation journey and the impact of digitalization among SMBs to drive economic activity. Additionally, the study is expanding globally to eight countries across North America, Latin America and Europe. Results will be revealed in the September timeframe.
Additional Resources:
Blog by Bidhan Roy: Top 5 Insights to Becoming a Resilient SMB
Learn more about the 2020 Asia Pacific SMB Digital Maturity Study
Find out more about Cisco Designed portfolio for small businesses
About Report Methodology
The 2020 Asia Pacific SMB Digital Maturity Study gathered and analysed data from over 1,400 SMBs across 14 markets in APAC to assess the challenges and opportunities the companies face in their digital transformation journey. The 1
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
94 percent of SMBs in Asia Pacific say they have become more reliant on technology to ensure business continuity during COVID-19 
