Show me the money - IDC ASEAN

The bad news: 83 percent of them expect to begin reaping an ROI of between three to six months.

On top of that, among the countries across Asia Pacific, Malaysia is one of the few that had the least patience when it comes to digital initiatives.

IDC ASEAN is not just saying it - they have data to prove this.

Managing Director Sudev Bangah says that the expectations to reap the benefits from a digital investment in unrealistic.

'Malaysian companies expecting ROI between three to six months after implementing digital transformation are not being realistic' - Bangah

Taking a short term risk-reward view on digital initiatives could skew organisations into a digital resistor point too.

For instance, slapping on ad hoc digital efforts on top of a company’s core business may be less costly and more ROI to show for in the shorter term.

However, that may potentially set up the organization to lose more time and money from missing out long term value-creation impact from a digital transformation of the core.

This involves not only transformation in the technological aspects but the lifeblood of any business too - the value, the people and processes.

“Companies in Indonesia and Philippines actually move into things a lot faster. They tend to throw their money in. They fail fast. They then pick themselves up and say ‘Okay, how do we do this all over again?’”

“Malaysian companies skew across to the digital resistor point. And when you sit over there, the assessment around it is again - with the amount of risk I take, what is the reward going to be.

“Therefore, understanding the long-term ROI and balancing the risk-reward expectation is crucial among top leaderships”