Building Digital Resilience Across Southeast Asia

As the region continues its digital transformation journey, resilient infrastructure will remain the foundation on which its economic aspirations are built.
 

Singapore has cemented itself as a global digital hub, with cloud services and data centres forming the backbone of its digital economy. PHOTO: CMG

Singapore’s digital infrastructure stands at a critical inflection point; as demand for secure and reliable digital infrastructure grows, data centre operators must proactively enhance resilience against technical disruptions, cyberthreats and physical risks.

The Infocomm Media Development Authority’s new advisory guidelines for cloud services and data centres are not merely technical recommendations – they signal a fundamental shift in how cloud service providers and data centre operators approach digital resilience. As the precursor to Singapore’s upcoming Digital Infrastructure Act, expected to be tabled in Parliament later this year, these guidelines offer a preview of how the nation plans to formalise requirements for this critical sector.

Economic stakes and impact on businesses
Singapore has cemented itself as a global digital hub, with cloud services and data centres forming the backbone of its digital economy. In fact, Singapore’s digital economy amounted to S$113 billion in 2023, contributing 17.7 per cent to the country’s gross domestic product that year, overtaking the finance and insurance sector.

However, recent incidents over the past two years highlight just how critical digital infrastructure has become. When it faces disruption, whether from cooling, power or even software-related issues, the impact can ripple through industries as well as essential services such as banking, transportation and government services.

Such events now underscore that in our increasingly connected economy, infrastructure resilience is no longer optional but an economic imperative.

The real impact for operators is that the business calculus is changing. Resilience is transforming from a cost centre to competitive differentiator, from an industry standard to national legislation. For data centre operators, compliance may require significant operational adjustments.

Enhanced training and security verification processes for both employees and vendors, the need to increase capital investments towards redundancy and monitoring systems, as well as more rigorous business continuity testing and validation are just the beginning. Going forward, customers will increasingly demand evidence of regulatory compliance and resilience capabilities, while long-term infrastructure investment decisions across the region will be influenced by these emerging legislations.

More importantly, first-movers who embrace these standards will gain significant advantages in reputation and customer trust, thus positioning themselves for long-term success. This levels the playing field while rewarding the forward-thinking few. ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC) with its presence across UK, Europe, North-east Asia and Southeast Asia markets, is well-positioned to observe these shifts firsthand. We anticipate the increased compliance demands may accelerate industry consolidation as smaller players struggle to meet increasingly complex requirements. At the same time, countries that find the right balance between reasonable regulation and business-friendly policy will continue to have the best chances of attracting infrastructure investments.

Industry expertise will clear the path forward
While regulatory guidelines can establish important frameworks, they alone cannot build resilience; industry expertise is essential for effective implementation.

Collaborative security and resilience models between the tripartite of regulators, service providers and customers must evolve to take on future challenges more effectively; there must be ongoing dialogue among all stakeholders involved. Public-private partnerships will also be essential to identifying and addressing systemic vulnerabilities throughout the digital ecosystem.

Countries that successfully balance reasonable regulation with business-friendly policies will naturally attract greater infrastructure investment. The challenge for the industry then is to contribute constructively to these conversations across Southeast Asia, sharing technical expertise while respecting each nation’s distinct priorities and development journey.

At the end of the day, the success of these initiatives will depend on thoughtful implementation and deep industry collaboration. As Singapore and the wider Southeast Asia region continue their digital transformation journeys, resilient infrastructure will remain the foundation on which the region’s economic aspirations are built.

By approaching these guidelines as opportunities rather than obstacles, the industry can ensure that digital infrastructure continues to be an enabler of digital prosperity, setting new benchmarks for resilience while better positioning Singapore and Southeast Asia competitively in the global digital economy.
 

The writer is Country Head, Singapore, ST Telemedia Global Data Centres; and 1st Vice Chair, Data Centre Chapter, SGTech.

This article was first published in The Business Times on 12 March 2025.