APAC businesses lag in having skills for digital customer experience delivery

Around 80% of APAC businesses are worried about the lack of skills for digital customer experience delivery.

Businesses in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region are lagging behind other regions in terms of having crucial operational capabilities to deliver efficient digital customer experience, according to a report by Adobe.

In the 2022 Digital Trends: APAC in Focus report, Adobe said 83% of APAC businesses are worried that their organisations do not have the necessary skills they need to deliver digital consumer experience and ensure a return on investments.

The report said that digital skills ranked as the joint top barrier in the delivery of digital experience, along with integration between tech systems.

APAC is followed by Europe at 79%, and North America at 10%, it said.

Furthermore, the report found that APAC businesses have “untapped opportunity in viable talent attraction and employee retention.”  It said that 55% of APAC leaders expect hybrid work setup to decline and return to pre-pandemic levels or lower, and only 36% are planning to hire remote workers at levels higher than before the health crisis.

“With a global constraint on the availability of digital talent, not embracing remote working is going to further constrict supply and further delay businesses digital transformation goals,” Adobe said.

Despite 92% of APAC leaders agreeing that ability to be agile will decide their success as a marketing organisation, only 25% of practitioners rated their organisation’s ability in responding to opportunities and disruptions as positive.

“Given that 84% of APAC organisations expect the rate of technological and social change to continue at the same or higher levels, developing the skills, agility and innovation required to keep pace should remain a top strategic priority,” said Scott Rigby, chief technology advisor for Adobe Asia Pacific and Japan. 

Read more: APAC businesses lead in customer experience investment: report