Robotics and Other Digital Supply Chain Technologies Rebound in Asia Pacific, Says IDC

A new survey from IDC indicates that the Asia Pacific region may well be ahead of the game in embracing supply chain robotics.

At the same time, investment in this new technology in North America may be waning.

“Wave 3 — Post-COVID-19 and Robotics: Stronger Demand in APAC and Weakening Spending in North America Confirm the Need to Transition to Transaction-Based Offerings,” tells a compelling story.

Its results are based on IDC’s COVID-19 Impact on IT Spending Survey, which surveyed nearly 500 organizations worldwide across industries in April 2020.

This new presentation compares side-by-side the anticipated spending and demand changes for robotics amid the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis.

Robotics adoption was on an upward trajectory during the post-COVID-19 era. Yet according to survey results, a very strong trend is being confirmed in the market highlighting even more short-term demand in the APAC region and a weakening willingness to spending for robotics in North America.

Europe, the Middle East and Africa, (EMEA) stands almost as a bystander with high ratio of undecisive decision makers, which we interpret as a now dangerous behavior in comparison with other regions.

A previous analogy distinctively categorizing “observer” organizations that already planned cuts for robotics technology spending all the while now recognizing needs for the incremental deployment of automation in their operations seems to deepen.

Remy Glaisner, co-author of the new IDC Wave and Research Director, Robotics, shared these insights with SCMR in an exclusive interview:

The spike in anticipated demand for robotics in the Asia-pacific region is along the line of the beginning of a rebound we are observing for a broader range of digital technologies.

The amplitude of the demand for robotics is not entirely a surprise, and they were many pre-COVID-19 signs that the region would be going in that direction. What's more surprising is how fast the projected demand is spiking, and how it keeps contrasting with other regions.

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