Companies should have several tech capabilities, including generative artificial intelligence (AI), to deal with changes and increase their flexibility in 2024, says tech service firm Bluebik.
"Businesses will focus more on the digital-first world, driven by tech and innovation, over the next 1-3 years to increase their agility and handle volatility, ensuring sustainable growth," said Pochara Arayakarnkul, chief executive of Bluebik Group.
The company sees four core areas with several tech capabilities that support business agilities, helping them capitalise on new opportunities, he said.
The first core is augmented intelligence based on democratisation of generative AI capability. Global tech firms are racing to embrace generative AI, leading to massive adoption rates, said Mr Pochara.
Adoption helps companies increase employee productivity on high-value tasks and enables faster product development, creating customer insight for hyper-personalisation, he said.
Generative AI, the digital ecosystem and cybersecurity will be key areas of investment for companies, with many sectors leveraging large language models for specific uses, noted Bluebik. For example, exporters preparing for compliance with the carbon border adjustment mechanism regulation are expected to use AI to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions, said the company.
The second core is the digital ecosystem, such as a super-app that connects multiple services and systems for consumer convenience. This area requires service availability and purchasing via multi-digital touchpoints and across platforms and devices, said Mr Pochara.
Event-driven nano architecture capability is also required, which is a proprietary development framework known for its flexibility and scalability based on real-time responsiveness and decoupling of components, he said.
The third core is digital immunity and trust in handling cybersecurity incidents. This involves generative cybersecurity AI capability to help assess risk management and AI-enhanced security operation capability to gather multiple sources of data for analysis to deal with threats such as malware, according to Bluebik.
Mr Pochara said he expects greater spending by companies on cybersecurity in 2024.
Data-driven firms have 23 times higher capacity than firms that are not data-driven in customer acquisition, he said.
The cost of data breaches globally this year is projected at US$4.5 billion.
Global digital transformation investments are projected at $6.8 trillion by 2023, while ransoms could cost businesses $265 billion in 2030, said Bluebik.
The fourth core is sustainability technologies, comprising AI capabilities for sustainability and environmental, social and governance management and reporting.
According to Gartner Inc, global IT spending is projected at $4.7 trillion this year. Mr Pochara said Bluebik sees cautious technology spending among local enterprises in the fourth quarter, which is expected to continue in 2024.
"Large customers are slicing big projects into smaller projects," he said.
Bluebik is preparing for the change by planning to increase its revenue contribution from foreign markets, especially the Philippines and Malaysia, where it has fewer rivals, said Mr Pochara.
The company targets 20% of revenue from abroad next year, with total revenue growth of 50%, compared with 100% anticipated growth this year, he said.
Bluebik, which is listed on the Market for Alternative Investment, is maintaining its goal to list on the Stock Exchange of Thailand and be among the SET 100 by 2025, said Mr Pochara.