AsiaTechDaily – Asia's Leading Tech and Startup Media Platform
A survey conducted by CPA Australia, one of the world’s largest professional accounting bodies, showed that Singaporean businesses were more likely to adopt technologies and develop a long-term strategy than their Asian region counterparts in the past 12 months.
The findings were based on the response of the 725 professionals across industries in Australia, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, and Singapore who were surveyed.
CPA Australia said 70% of high-growth businesses in Singapore plan to invest in data analytics and visualisation software over the next year, while just over half will put money in business intelligence software.
Singaporean businesses that didn’t grow in the past 12 months were less likely to have undertaken a technology project and had more limited resources to invest in technology, the survey showed.
The key drivers for adopting technologies are improving operational efficiency (83.3 percent), enhancing the customer experience (47.5 percent), and fostering collaboration among employees (32.5 percent).
“Technologies such as data analytics and RPA allow employees to deliver greater value to the organisation and their customers. This enables them to stand out in a competitive and uncertain business environment,” said Max Loh, Singapore Divisional President at CPA Australia.
High growth businesses nominated complex legacy systems and a shortage of technology talent as the top two challenges they faced in technology adoption.
Businesses that did not expand cited employee pushback, lack of technology understanding within management, legacy systems, and financial constraints as the main challenges to technology adoption.
“While financial constraints are a key challenge, particularly for smaller businesses, several incentives are available for businesses to tap,” Loh stressed.
The Singapore Government introduced an Investment Allowance scheme, available till March 2023, to help businesses manage the cost of implementing automation solutions. In the accounting sector, the RPA Adoption Support Scheme provides funding for the use of baseline RPA technologies, he added.
CPA Australia is one of the largest professional accounting bodies in the world, with more than 168,000 members in over 100 countries and regions, including more than 8,500 members in Singapore.