S’pore leads APAC in digital resilience but board oversight gaps loom

Firms also prioritise compliance over response.

Singapore ranked first in overall digital resilience in the Asia Pacific, but gaps in board-level leadership and coordination beyond the organisation persist, according to an Economist Impact report supported by Telstra International.

The city-state also placed first in risk management and workforce and cultural agility, and second in technology and infrastructure. However, it ranked lower in external enabling environment (6th) and leadership (10th).

Leadership was identified as the weakest area, with about 71% of respondents saying boards or executive committees do not regularly review the effectiveness of digital resilience plans.

Moreover, responsibility is concentrated in a single function, such as IT, rather than shared across the C-suite.

Charles Ross, Head of Policy and Insights for APAC at Economist Impact, said Singapore’s top ranking reflects its regulatory environment and focus on digital resilience, but added that compliance and operational discipline alone are insufficient.

“In an era of compounding risks, digital resilience depends not only on internal safeguards but on the strength of wider ecosystems,” Ross added.

Only 22% of organisations reported having first-hand insight into the digital resilience capabilities of their suppliers and partners, citing limited information-sharing, infrequent joint simulations, and weak partner governance as key risks.

Gaps also remain in workforce readiness. Whilst 82% of organisations have upskilling programmes and 85% conduct organisation-wide digital resilience training, only 12% mandate training focused on team adaptability during outages.

The report further found that organisations are allocating resources towards compliance rather than response. The majority (85%) cite high compliance cost, but 74% lack full-time digital resilience teams and 60% lack dedicated budgets to digital resilience initiatives.