Digital Economy and Society Minister Chaiyawut said digital technology has become an important part of everyday life and the digital economy is booming. There are many unexpected development opportunities in digital technology and businesses and consumers are accelerating transformation initiatives. Everything is more connected to the world and cross-border / globalized services are no longer geographically limited. Minister Chaiyawut said new trends are driving changes in a more digital world supported by technology – monitoring, tracking and storage.
To go with the flow and maximize Thailand’s economic development through digital technology, the government has prioritized 5G because it sees the opportunities and the potential. He reiterated the government’s commitment to leveraging 5G for economic development and increasing Thailand’s competitiveness on the global stage.
Public spending in Thailand increased to THB 417,833 million in the third quarter of 2021, from THB 407,010 million in the second quarter of 2021, showing an increasing trend. In addition, Thailand’s overall IT spending is expected to reach THB 819 billion in 2021, up 7.4% year-on-year, a rate higher than 2022 forecast at 6.4%.
Thailand’s IT spending is forecast to grow 6.4% year-on-year to THB 871 billion in 2022, with strong growth in enterprise software, driven by the pursuit of hybrid work and remote services, according to a report. study of a global research firm. Forecast IT spending growth for next year, however, is still higher than global growth of 5.5% with US $ 4.47 trillion in IT spending expected in 2022. To put it in context, spending IT systems in 2021 are expected to reach $ 4.24 trillion, up 9.5% year-on-year.
Enterprise software is expected to experience the highest growth of 14.8% to THB 61.3 billion in 2022, followed by IT services with growth of 9.8% to 85.4 billion and devices with growth from 9% to 220 billion. Communications services are expected to experience the weakest growth of 3.8% next year, but would maintain the country’s largest segment of IT spending at THB 483 billion, or about half of the total market.
Growth in spending on devices, primarily PCs and tablets, peaked at 21.7% in 2021, driven by people working and studying from home. Individuals and businesses have upgraded their devices or invested in multiple devices for remote or hybrid work. Spending on data center systems is forecast to increase 4.6% to THB 21.6 billion.
An industry expert noted that companies will increasingly build new technology and software, rather than buying and implementing them, leading to lower spending levels overall in 2022 compared to 2021. However, digital technology initiatives remain a strategic business priority for companies as they continue to reinvent the future of work, focusing spending on challenging their infrastructure and adapting to work. increasingly complex hybrid for employees by 2022.
What changed in 2020 and 2021 was not really the technology itself, but the willingness and eagerness of people to embrace it and use it in different ways. In 2022, CIOs need to reconfigure the way work is done by embracing business composability and technologies that adapt to asynchronous workflows. Globally, enterprise software is expected to experience the highest growth in 2022 at 11.5% to $ 669.8 billion, supported by infrastructure software spending that continues to outpace software spending application. Growth in device spending is expected to peak in 2021 at 15.1%, supported by remote work and online study, and is expected to grow a further 2.3% in 2022.
Other reports note that the vast majority of businesses have been propelled by digital disruption, with most executives around the world admitting to some extent its transformative impact. Additionally, the rate of implementation of advanced technologies, except robotics, and basic technologies has all increased with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. This indicates digital adoption of all technologies across all industries at a rapid pace during the COVID-19 era. It is therefore crucial and intriguing to identify digital disruption prospects and digital implementation approaches in businesses in Thailand.
The higher rate of digital transformation coupled with the immense and unpredictable impact of the COVID-19 pandemic across all businesses is evident. Companies are and should be more active in the digital transformation movement and the digital environment in the market, given the persistent and growing VUCA world. For the most part, the majority of businesses have entered a post-COVID-19 digital adoption phase compared to the digital assessment phase that existed before the pandemic. As expected and confirmed by performance in a post-pandemic landscape, financial services, life sciences and healthcare have experienced astronomical growth, propelled by accelerated digital initiatives.
