For Asean’s main industries, emerging disruptors build possibilities

According to a new report by Cisco and Jungle Projects, the rapid digitalization of the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) critical industries such as education, health care and the supply chain in the midst of the global pandemic has opened new possibilities for digital disruptors.

The Emerging Disruptors from the Global Pandemic study looks at the transformation of critical services in the region during COVID-19 and the models of successful disruptors.

It highlights how many Asean economies’ national digitalization agendas have helped ease the region’s organizations’ transition to remote operations and work during COVID-19. As a result, Asean is emerging as one of the world’s fastest growing mobile-first economies, spanning key sectors with the growth of multiple digital-native platforms.

COVID-19, when faced with disruption, has demonstrated our innate human capacity to innovate at scale and with speed. At the beginning of the pandemic, some of the hardest-hit markets, such as education, health care and supply chain logistics, were able to reimagine the future, introduce new strategies and adopt an entrepreneurial and resilient mentality. Naveen Menon, President of Asean Cisco, said, “We are now seeing large waves of innovation emerging that will cater to this new reality.”

Changes in the global economy have led to the rise of start-ups that are evolving, adapting and disrupting industries. Entities. Organisations. The bulk of the Asean economy remains largely offline, which poses a great opportunity for start-ups in technology. Data from Station F, one of the largest start-up campuses in the world reveals that since the beginning of the recession, 18 percent of start-ups worldwide have made a pivot to address a new market and another 13 percent are considering a similar change in the next 6 months.

The paper offers an in-depth overview of how organizations have responded to this crisis in three main sectors: education, health care, supply chain and logistics, and have implemented technology rapidly and innovatively to reduce interruptions in their services.