Article
Digital for social good
The trillion dollar opportunity in Southeast Asia
Globally, businesses are steering away from traditional business models that solely look into financial gains, and gearing towards a model that inculcates the development of community needs as well. With an increasingly connected ecosystem resulting in changing expectations and stronger influences from stakeholders and society in a business’ decision making process, doing social good and helping the community is no longer an afterthought but is fast becoming a priority for businesses.
As such, we believe that leading businesses of the future will be those who can harness the potential of digitisation, operate with a strong sense of purpose, and who make a genuine commitment to sustainable development.
With 47% of Southeast Asia population still living outside the cities, this potentially spells a multi-trillion dollar economic opportunity for businesses to expand into. In Deloitte’s “Digital for social good” study, we present multiple case examples globally where #DigitalforSocialGood is already in play in key sectors such as agro-business and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
Through this study, we hope to inspire business to think about two key questions:
- How can businesses in Southeast Asia leverage exponential technologies to build viable business models that are also socially relevant?
- Should it be an imperative for business in Southeast Asia, to explore the multiplier effect offered by ‘collaborative technology’, and increase its reach in new untapped markets?