Digitization Remains a Key Focus for Most Industries in 2019 but Challenges Remain

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

While the oil price is expected to hover between US$60–US$70/barrel during 2019, the oil & gas majors are striving to make exploration and production viable well below this range through increased adoption of digital technologies. The oil & gas industry is also taking on two other megatrends, namely transportation electrification and sustainability by investing in distributed energy assets and tapping into emerging opportunities in the mobility sector.

According to Ravi Krishnaswamy, Senior Vice President, Energy & Industrial, despite the drop in oil prices, overall investments in the oil & gas industry is likely to increase by over 8% in 2019 due to the strong growth of the LNG sector and urgent need to discover new reserves.

India and the newly resurgent Australia are likely to lead Asia-Pacific’s solar market growth in 2019, with annual capacity additions forecast to double in these two markets. Vietnam and Bangladesh are two other countries to watch. Offshore wind & energy storage are two other areas where China is building significant domestic capacity, despite a late start.

“The transformation of the power industry will further accelerate in 2019, with the powerful combination of intermittent renewable, behind the meter storage and digitization of end-user assets including higher penetration of smart meters. Availability of real-time data and predictive analytics will bring several new business models like microgrid-as-service and virtual power plants into the mainstream. In several countries, regulators will be forced to keep pace by developing or modifying their current policies due to customer demand,” he explained.

Digitization and innovation the new drivers for healthcare in Asia-Pacific in 2019

2019 is expected to be the year when Asia-Pacific truly transforms the healthcare industry with technology and innovation; presenting growth opportunities for vendors and healthcare providers with an innovative culture, noted SR Dinesh, Vice President, Transformational Health, Asia-Pacific.

The healthcare market in the region is expected to grow at 7.2% in 2019, due to the growth of smart hospitals, home care segment, and medical tourism that increases the demand for technology, innovative healthcare programs, as well as drugs and high-technology medical devices. Conventional growth drivers such as supportive government regulations and policies are also a major boost for projected market growth in the Asia-Pacific healthcare industry.

Emerging markets such as China, India, and ASEAN are expected to offer high growth opportunities across all segments. The Asia-Pacific healthcare market is expected to grow to US$486.72 billion in 2019. For the region, healthcare challenges remain the same; access and affordability of new technology demand complex and innovative solutions from all industry stakeholders.

“We believe emerging trends in healthcare such as policy innovation, support for new business models, and development of secure interoperable technology platforms will create growth opportunities for industry participants including pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, medical technology manufacturers, digital health vendors, and healthcare service providers,” he added.

Separately, topics such as the benefits, drawbacks, and use cases of successful digital transformation journeys were also discussed as part of a panel discussion featuring industry leaders such as Vish Iyer, Vice President, Cisco Architectures, APJC, Bryan Spear, Managing Director, Asia-Pacific, Trilliant Holdings Inc., and Francis Prince Thangasamy, Vice President, Product Management, CenturyLink Singapore Pte Ltd.

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