For this company, cloud is the key to unlocking Southeast Asia’s digital potential

While the importance of digital transformation has been steadily growing in Southeast Asia over the last 10 years, the Covid-19 pandemic kicked off a “digital big bang” that has since made digitalization the default.

These changes have been felt across Asia Pacific, where more than 30% of business revenue will be driven by digital products and services by 2023.

These strong fundamentals were a major driving force behind CMC Global’s efforts to expand throughout Asia Pacific. The global provider of cloud-based software solutions has since become a leading tech solutions firm in Vietnam while also having a significant footprint in Japan.

Informed by its experience in Vietnam, CMC Global expanded its Southeast Asia operations with the establishment of CMC-APAC in Singapore.

“Southeast Asia has been going through a rapid and unprecedented digital transformation, driven by rising consumer classes,” says Nguyen Viet Bach, chief delivery officer of CMC Global.

Moving to Southeast Asia

With CMC-APAC, the firm aims to capitalize on a region with some of the highest rates of digital adoption in the world. Southeast Asia’s digital economy is expected to top US$222 billion in 2022 thanks to sharp rises in ecommerce and digitalization spend.

“We identified the region as a key territory because of the proximity of its time zones, culture, and geographical locations, all of which have proven helpful for CMC-APAC’s ability to catch up with the rest of the market,” Viet Bach says.

Nguyen Viet Bach, chief delivery officer of CMC Global / Photo credit: CMC Global

CMC Global’s existing customer base and familiarity with the region’s quirks have been fundamental to CMC-APAC’s strong start. When asked why the company chose to root its expansion efforts in Singapore, Viet Bach cites the city-state’s credentials and strong business community.

“Eventually, as we strengthen our reputation, we will look into expanding into Malaysia, Thailand, and other potential markets,” the executive adds.

That being said, Southeast Asia does have its drawbacks. Viet Bach brings up the shortage of skilled tech labor as the biggest stumbling block for the company, which plagues even major regional firms like Sea and JD.ID.

Additionally, unlike other markets in East Asia, the region suffers from a significant digital divide both locally and regionally, so localization poses a significant challenge for CMC-APAC.

Many firms are also still struggling to embed digitalization in a holistic way due to legacy systems or failures to align IT and business outcomes.

This, however, presents opportunities for a firm like CMC-APAC.

Supporting digital transformations

Considering the acceleration of digitalization in Southeast Asia, there is perhaps no better time for CMC-APAC to begin its expansion. The company offers a wide range of services aimed at supporting clients’ digital transformations, including cloud integration, business process automation, and data analytics.

These solutions could not only spur more efficiencies for local companies but also help them replace their “legacy, on-premises technology with flexible, scalable, and cost-effective computing power in the cloud,” says Nguyen Hoai Anh (no relation to Nguyen Viet Bach), director of CMC-APAC.

Nguyen Hoai Anh (right), director of CMC-APAC, speaking to attendees at Cloud Expo Asia 2022 / Photo credit: CMC Global

This was the case with one of the firm’s clients, a hospital in South Korea whose electronic health record software was too outdated that operating and maintaining it was becoming an issue. After conducting extensive research, the hospital found that high adoption and maintenance costs were major barriers to upgrading its tech.

CMC-APAC’s focus was on solutions that would make it easy but effective for hospital staff to run. The answer was a custom platform that automated the entire record process for the whole hospital while also reducing the labor needed to run it.

By leveraging cloud and automation technologies, CMC-APAC has also helped its clients circumvent talent shortages. Hoai Anh shares that the company helped a major US semiconductor manufacturer streamline a number of financial and manufacturing processes through a custom cloud-enabled platform. CMC-APAC designed the platform as a series of “microservices” that introduced a degree of flexibility and scalability that was needed to automate the client’s testing and deploying activities.

Enabling CMC-APAC’s transformative work with clients is its status as an official consulting partner for Amazon Web Services (AWS), which has been expanding throughout Southeast Asia with a planned US$5 billion investment in Indonesia over the next 15 years.

“Our proven experience with cloud services and adherence to international standards are just some of our key strengths,” says Hoai Anh, citing the firm’s 200 AWS-certified engineers.

A future in the cloud

“It’s not always easy to predict what changes will stick and which will fall by the wayside, but some trends seem set to determine the future of digital transformation,” muses Hoai Anh.

For CMC-APAC, the cloud is the key to unlock Southeast Asia’s digital potential.

“By allowing access to data from anywhere at any time, the cloud has completely transformed the way organizations function,” says Hoai Anh. “We want to focus on developing our cloud offering so we can bring the power of technology ever closer to the business world.”

In Southeast Asia, the company is engaging with local communities through outreach and networking events. In order to further the conversation around cloud-enabled digitalization, CMC-APAC was present at the Cloud Expo Asia 2022 conference. During the event, the company showcased its smart identification solution, CIVAMS.Face. Steve Vu, the firm’s director of cloud solutions, also spoke about how cloud technology will drive the next generation of data analytics.

Steve Vu, CMC Global director of cloud solutions, presenting at Cloud Expo Asia 2022 / Photo credit: CMC Global

However, having these tools is not enough for companies to truly take advantage of these next-gen technologies without “leaders fluent in the language of digital,” says Hoai Anh.

“From reducing costs to accelerating innovation, there are many compelling reasons to embark on a cloud migration journey. This is why we want to come in to help leaders realize the value of flexible, scalable, and cost-effective cloud computing. They can establish whole new business models that undermine convention to go far beyond simple digitalization.”

CMC-Asia Pacific is leveraging its experience and expertise in cloud-based technologies to support hundreds of clients across the region on their digital transformation journeys. Find out more about how they are empowering Southeast Asia’s businesses on its website.

This content was produced by Tech in Asia Studios, which connects brands with Asia’s tech community. Learn more about partnering with Tech in Asia Studios.