Over 70% of Asian businesses favor Asian providers: Survey

65% of the businesses in Asia have already adopted at least one technology solution from an Asian provider, while more respondents (72%) said they believe Asian provider can provide better solutions because they have a better sense of understanding of the Asian mindset, according to Alibaba Cloud’s survey.

Over 1,000 participants from Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines responded to the survey, which was conducted in late 2020 by an independent research organization to understand the role of cloud solutions and confidence in Asian innovation among the business community.

A vast majority (64%) of businesses feel that cloud-native solutions have helped them cope with the impact of the pandemic and 69% reported that a hybrid cloud approach supported them in disaster recovery and business continuity planning. This proved especially true in regions like Indonesia, where 64% of businesses see hybrid cloud solutions as critical to their longevity.

“It is very encouraging to see the high level of confidence in Asian innovation among businesses in the region. With digitalization so strong a trend, especially on the back of the pandemic, we believe there will be many new opportunities to build on the strong perception of the region’s cloud capabilities,” said Selina Yuan, President for International Business, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence.

The priorities of users are evolving

Given the increasing demand for hybrid cloud solutions in Asia, Alibaba Cloud revamped its strategy in December 2020 and launched a Hybrid Cloud Partner Program to upgrade its product offerings. The aim of these initiatives is to help businesses, especially small- and medium-enterprises (SMEs), digitally transform their operations and capture the public cloud’s highly elastic, scalable and accessible benefits while simultaneously supporting them with their private cloud needs.

The pandemic has underscored the role of cloud-based tools while driving a shift in the priorities of customers. Before the pandemic, the ability to integrate with existing IT infrastructure was the primary concern of businesses thinking about adopting a cloud solution. After it began, a vendor’s security credentials became the most important (58%), particularly among businesses in markets like the Philippines (62%).

“Alibaba Cloud solutions are easy to be deployed, ready to be integrated into companies’ existing IT infrastructure and secure in many ways. During the pandemic, we see our clients priority shift more towards operation security and cost efficiency. Given their evolving needs, we want to ensure our solutions are going to meet their demands,” added Yuan.

Asian cloud providers enjoy a positive perception

The survey found that the perception of cloud-based service providers is very positive. A substantial majority (84%) of the respondents agree that cloud-based service providers deliver on their promises. In addition, hyperscale cloud providers were discovered to be preferred over global enterprise tech consultants, local third-party partners and in-house teams by 43% of Asian businesses.

Reinforcing these findings, 73% of businesses feel confident in Asia’s ability to innovate technologically and 65% reported having already adopted a solution from a regional provider. Among the regions represented in the survey, 74% of Hong Kong companies have adopted local solutions.