There is a cloud hovering over the Asia-Pacific. Spending on public cloud and related services is growing at a compounded average growth rate of 25 percent across the region, outpacing growth in the mature markets of Western Europe and the US. Cloud budgets today account for approximately 5 percent of average IT budgets, a figure likely to double by 2023.

The cloud has long been championed as an avenue for efficiency savings for business. But in an era of Covid-19, virtual ways of working are as much about operational continuity as they are about operational expenditure. In this period of radical transformation, organizations are now rushing to embrace the opportunity with enthusiasm.

Transitions that have taken place over the past few weeks were previously expected to have taken up to a year on pre-Covid-19 timelines. That represents a remarkable catalyst for cloud adoption in the Asia-Pacific region.

Cloud Adoption for Post-Covid-19 Recovery

While businesses across Asia-Pacific display enthusiasm for cloud services, they remain restricted by foundational gaps in adoption. These are the findings of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Amazon Web Services (AWS) report, titled "Businesses in the Asia-Pacific Can Find Resilience and Growth in the Cloud," which gathered insight across eight markets: Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

More than 70 percent of executives indicated a belief that cloud will help them innovate faster while reducing implementation and operational risks. Those beliefs are well-founded. BCG experience suggests that large enterprises can deliver new services 30 percent to 60 percent faster through cloud migration.

The value of enabling rapid growth will be unmistakable in a post-Covid-19 recovery. While innovation and risk reduction represent the two biggest drivers, 52 percent of respondents referenced revenue increases, and 57 percent cost savings, as primary adoption drivers. These levers will be critical during a period of stunted economic activity following Covid-19.

Cloud adoption provides an avenue of growth which can help offset those economic challenges. BCG analysis indicates growth in the public cloud could unlock $450 billion value across six major markets – Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea – from 2019 to 2023.

A new reality for adoption after the pandemic is set to radically transform how businesses view cloud opportunity, as remote ways of working become embedded in accepted operational procedures.

Attitudes toward cloud today are driven by innovation and risk reduction, both of which have come into focus during the current crisis. A total of 71 percent of respondents across the region cited these as primary drivers for adoption.

The sweeping global transition to remote work has seen virtual collaboration tools thrown into the spotlight of economic activity. BCG estimated that up to 300 million office workers globally were working from home by mid-March. That number is likely to have increased significantly in recent months.

Yet while cloud adoption offers a powerful opportunity to unlock business value, there remains notable hesitation around the challenges of this transition.

Cybersecurity concerns remain a significant barrier, with 45 percent of the respondents noting that they do not host specific data on public cloud infrastructure. The question of talent also poses challenges, particularly in Asia-Pacific's emerging economies.

Effective use of the cloud requires expertise that is in high demand, such as engineers and coders, as well as specialists to design and implement business-focused use cases. These challenges must be overcome if the region is to unlock the true value of adoption.

Yet our survey reveals that more than 75 percent of respondents still believe that weak alignment between business and IT remains a major barrier to scaling the cloud.

While business leaders understand the benefits of the cloud, getting buy-in and funding for specific initiatives is difficult. These barriers will have become evident in recent months, as the enforced transition to remote working highlighted previously unseen integration challenges of legacy IT systems.

Stepping Into the Cloud

While spending is set to accelerate significantly in the coming years, many Asia-Pacific companies remain at the early stages of cloud adoption. Capturing the greatest value from this transition will require priority across six key actions.

Align ownership and business outcomes between business and technology stakeholders within your organization. Pilot projects to demonstrate early success are an important step on this journey. Joint business and IT planning team should be established to align strategy, prioritize budgets, identify cloud partners and establish metrics.

Determine the optimal migration path to cloud adoption for your business. Companies should design their approach based on the value of the underlying workload. The three most common tactics are, first, rehost by "lifting and shifting" applications into the cloud environment. This is the easiest to employ, but also easiest for competitors to match.

Second, retire and repurchase by replacing legacy systems with superior software-as-a-service alternatives. While more time-consuming than rehosting, it still offers relatively rapid access to powerful enterprise solutions.

Third, refactor and reengineer bespoke solutions for your organization by designing fresh architecture with cloud-native features. While this is the most expensive strategy, it provides the potential for differentiation that delivers enhanced competitive advantage.

Define a target cloud operating model for your transition. Nascent adopters typically manage cloud within existing infrastructure, while mature adopters shift toward a center of excellence (COE) approach. Centralized offerings can help adapt services to meet specific operational needs.

Covid-19 further underpins the argument for centralized cloud capabilities, as the pressure to enhance remote working facilities grows.

Create a strategy that combines internal and external talent. The most successful cloud transformations embrace a well-rounded talent strategy, covering a wide range of operational skillsets. Consider retraining internal resources for adjacent skills opportunities. Such an approach is critical to filling gaps in a competitive talent market.

Rethink cybersecurity for the cloud to ensure fit-for-purpose safeguards. Security threats have increased substantially during Covid-19, and organizations must recognize and respond. Advanced cybersecurity solutions are available which can further help boost security architecture.

Future-proof your technology architecture by adopting a cloud-first and cloud-native strategy. Cloud platforms allow organizations to rapidly flex and build new capabilities, a critical consideration to adapt to the new reality following Covid-19.

Adopting a cloud-based strategy alongside edge computing capabilities can further enhance proximity and provision to meet end-consumer needs. Cost savings may have driven early cloud adoption, but organizations increasingly see the cloud as a way to propel growth while enhancing operational resilience.

As companies in Asia-Pacific adjust to the new reality following Covid-19, cloud adoption represents a transformational multi-billion dollar opportunity for businesses in the region.

Luc Grimond is the managing director and partner of Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Alain Schneuwly is the managing director of BCG Platinion.