5 Data Resolutions for APAC in 2023: How organisations can boost resilience and ensure growth in economic uncertainty

While the Asia Pacific region (APAC) fared relatively well during the pandemic compared to its US and European counterparts, is the pressure of global inflation and the threat of recession finally catching up??

Over the past year at Confluent, we’ve seen many organisations continue to invest in digital transformation projects catalysed by the Covid-19 crisis, fuelling a growing appetite for data streaming.?

But as we begin 2023, economic uncertainty looms large. Leaders in APAC will have to make intelligent investments in technology that will ensure operational efficiencies, boost resilience, and fortify long-term growth.??

This year will be about getting your data to work smarter, not harder. From cybersecurity modernisation to breaking the batch data habit, here are five key actions to take in 2023.?

1. Creating operational efficiencies with data streaming

Overcoming data management and integration inefficiencies will be a crucial priority for tech executives keen to optimise the value of their data – and protect profit margins at the same time.??

In our work with clients across various industries, we often see resources being sapped in merely integrating data and making it fit for purpose. Most data projects are point-to-point – a project gets spun up to produce a certain output and teams go and find the data they need to build and feed into it. Another project starts up, and teams go off and repeat the same process.?

This means that most of a data scientist’s time is spent preparing, cleaning, and organising data. That leaves only a small margin for the high-value analytical work that really impacts your bottom line.

Getting the data out of the sources and into a real-time stream means you can use it across projects. That data is discoverable and at your fingertips, rather than you having to constantly go back to the source to find and massage it.

Data streaming –?especially when managed via a third-party service –?also allows organisations to streamline their tech stack by consolidating software and mining the depth of machine learning already there to automate data flows. When the data is already in flow, developers just have to tap into it. This way, data scientists can be empowered to focus on innovating with what emerges.

In fact, more and more companies are turning to fully managed solutions for help with real-time data. The IDC's 2021 Streaming Data Pipeline Survey reports that over 70% of companies have indicated that they plan on using managed services for their future data streaming projects.?(1)

2. Modernising cybersecurity measures as threats increase

Cloud-security vulnerabilities will continue to be a concern for organisations in APAC. One survey revealed that 48% find data protection more challenging to manage in the cloud than on-premises. Ongoing global economic and political instability is increasing risk, with a rise in cybersecurity threats being attributed to the war in Ukraine.??

IDC forecasts that spending on security solutions and services in Asia/Pacific will exceed $31 billion in 2022, an increase of 15.5% from 2021. (2)

Clearly, the modernisation of cybersecurity infrastructure is crucial. The systems currently in place were architected for a different point in time. They are not able to scale to confront increasingly numerous and sophisticated threats.?

That’s partially because of the volume of data, the fact that it’s coming from different places, and the idea that the capturing of data is closely coupled with other applications. Each factor element creates more risk and widens the surface area of attack.

Decoupling the capturing of data in real-time is 100% needed for cybersecurity purposes. At the same time, organisations must grasp a vast variety and volume of security data and send it to the right tools to be analysed for cyber threats as they happen.?

This is where real-time data streaming can help. It allows companies to get ahead of attacks by rapidly sorting and analysing a large quantity of data to identify that needle in a haystack that could be a cybersecurity threat. Anomalies can be quickly detected and dealt with before the damage is done.

Intel is a good example of this. Using Confluent, the company built a scalable cyber intelligence platform that lowered the time it took to detect and respond to security threats, reduced technical debt and compute and ingestion costs, and enabled faster, more accurate decision-making overall.

3. Continuing investment and experimentation with IoT??

IDC expects spending in APAC on the Internet of Things (IoT) to reach $433 billion in 2026 (3), facilitated by expanding 5G coverage across the region (connections are expected to reach 430 million in 2025).

2023 will see manufacturing organisations further embrace AI and the ability to make decisions without human intervention. With a growing number of IoT sensors collecting more and more data, a powerful and highly secure data streaming infrastructure will be crucial to delivering the most value in the fastest possible time.?

Take car manufacturers for example. They need to be able to tie all the supply chain data together to facilitate the just-in-time manufacturing workflows that these days make the difference between profit and loss. Predictive maintenance is another element of digital manufacturing that can offer significant efficiency gains on the factory floor.?

Toyota has vehicles that process data in real-time at the car level to enable smarter driving (such as parking assistance) while also sending data back via low-latency 5G to aggregate insights across fleets for the company to make improvements.?

Data streaming combined with 5G is helping companies like Globe–a major Communications Service Provider in the Philippines–leverage new levels of connectivity.?

Globe is now able to pinpoint exactly where their customers are to provide proactive notifications for when they need to top up their phones. For example, if a customer is a few hundred meters from a 7/11 where they can buy phone credit, the company will send them a notification with an offer (such as a discount or free product) to be redeemed there if they top up with Globe. This encourages customer loyalty and helps them stay on top of their credit.?

There’s a similar example if you’re a Domino’s app user in Australia. When you’re 200 meters away from a Domino’s outlet, they’ll send you a notification with a voucher for a discounted pizza.?

It’s truly amazing what some businesses are doing with real-time data streaming when the public infrastructure is there.?

4. Secure data sharing and rethinking the ownership of data?

There’s now a need more than ever to share data in a secure, governed way. A recent example is Covid health data and how governments and other bodies had to quickly figure out a way to share the data safely across departments, organisations, and country borders.?

Up until now, that has been really tricky. Many people are still reticent to share data because there’s a sense that they’ll lose control of it –?they don’t know what’s going to happen to it outside of their firewall.?

Secure data sharing for a variety of purposes will be another focus for organisations in 2023. Each industry has its own specific use cases that demand data sharing. If we look at financial services, the use of data enables institutions to offer personalised services, address fraud and enable easier applications for products like student loans. But privacy and security concerns–whether that’s from customers, regulators, or the institutions themselves–create barriers.?

Markets are now shifting toward safer financial data sharing for both companies and their customers. Open-data initiatives and data-sharing systems are being launched across APAC, such as Australia’s new consumer protection laws which give customers the power to share their data to compare products and services to find offers that best match their needs.

This relates to the point about rethinking the ownership of data. Data privacy is now a fundamental right and consumers must have control over their data relationships with organisations. Those companies that provide transparency and control for consumers will have a better brand reputation and more trust.?

Data sharing and ethical ownership can be best enabled by having a secure, centralised data architecture powered by data streaming. Financial services companies can recognise who owns what data, creating real-time applications that respond intelligently to a customer’s needs while respecting their right to privacy at the level they have consented to.?

5. Breaking the batch data habit?

Nearly every organisation still operates with batch data processing, which, while fit for purpose at a basic level, only diminishes competitive advantage in the long term. As the Netflixes and Ubers of the world adopted real-time data streaming to establish and strengthen their position as industry giants, they’ve also changed consumers' expectations forever.?

Nobody would say that it’s better to have data a day later than it is to have it right now. Batch data processing is not good enough in most cases. Take banks for example. It’s only a matter of time–if it hasn’t happened already–before customers will switch to a provider that can reflect their transactions, update their address, or warn of a spam threat within seconds rather than hours, or worse, days.?

Legacy organisations no longer have loyalty to rely on. If companies want to remain competitive, they must break the batch data habit and turn to real-time streaming. Otherwise, they risk being knocked out of the market by another company able to provide the kind of experience that today’s customers simply take for granted.?

2023: The year of the data streaming transition?

2023 will bring with it many challenges. Those organisations that embrace the possibilities of real-time data streaming will stand a better chance of dealing with disruptions and turning challenges into opportunities.??

I believe this year will be a significant milestone in the data streaming category as businesses wake up to the value it creates in times of trouble but also when we emerge on the other side.?

References:

1.?IDC Analyst Brief, sponsored by Confluent, Why Real-Time Streaming Technology Is Critical to Innovation and Gaining a Competitive Advantage, doc #US49146322, May 2022

2. ?IDC Press Release, Asia/Pacific* Security Spending to Exceed $31 Billion in 2022 Due to Increased Digitalization, Says IDC, August 2022, #prAP49600522

3. IDC Worldwide Internet of Things Spending Guide 2022 | Nov (V2 2022) release