6covid19With the future of work being now and being digital, businesses need to build an intelligent workplace – one where employees can develop and communicate content internally and with customers in a highly automated and responsive way. This enables business growth, improves employee experience, and facilitates business continuity.

While the trend of remote working continues, Forrester Consulting, together with Adobe, have researched on the common challenges facing organizations and how they can accelerate their transition towards becoming intelligent digital workplaces.

Here are some of the report’s key insights within the APAC region:

  • APAC businesses were less prepared to support remote work than other regions but are rapidly accelerating their digital transformation

    The use of digital collaboration and productivity tools was very much developing in APAC before the pandemic. For instance, only 13% of APAC respondents considered e-signatures to be standard protocol in their businesses initially, almost five times lower than in North America. This is exacerbated by the misperception that there is no regulatory support for electronic approvals. This is quickly shifting, with most APAC businesses now providing their employees with technologies to facilitate or improve remote work. Organizations can consider making improvements to the customer journey and offer more convenience and ease to transact – for example, through digital forms and e-signing options such as “Sign with SingPass” by GovTech, supported by Adobe.

  • APAC organizations will increase their adoption of and spend on digital document processes this year
    Pre-pandemic, APAC organizations fell behind other regions in digitizing their document processes and now need to intensify their efforts as a result. This year, 46% of APAC organizations plan to increase their adoption of digital document processes and will raise their spend by 51% on average. This is especially notable, given that it comes when a key business priority for leaders across the board is reducing budgets. In this new environment, it is more important than ever before for businesses to equip their digital workplaces with intelligent technology to become more resilient, agile, and scalable.

  • The pandemic has exposed flaws in neglected back-office processes, forcing APAC business leaders to re-examine post-pandemic priorities
    In 2020, firms shifted their automation focus to back-office processes, with decision-makers now looking at uncovering gaps in their operational processes and how to address them: 60% of APAC leaders consider document workflow automation indispensable in supporting business continuity and agility, as it helps to connect and automate content creation and collaboration. Improving employee collaboration post-pandemic is also a top priority in APAC, showing that businesses understand the urgency and importance of building a strong foundation for the future of work and enterprise collaboration. The most effective way to do so is by adopting a platform approach that eliminates repetitive and mundane tasks to create a people-centric, intelligent, and digital workplace.


The in-depth survey yielded several recommendations, including reducing technology impediments, developing an enterprise collaboration roadmap, and identifying key use cases that may delay business value. Feel free to find out more about the report and key recommendations.

By MediaBUZZ