How the BOI is promoting heavier adoption of digital systems
The digital industry in Thailand has experienced continuous growth over recent years with more businesses shifting their operations to online platforms to accommodate customer preferences due to the pandemic. The digital adoption rate in business is projected to account for 30% of GDP by 2030 with almost a quarter of enterprises in Thailand embracing digital systems as part of their operations and almost 60% of businesses in the transition stage.
Furthermore, social media is embedded into Thais’ lives with more than three-quarters of the population being active on social media applications, with an average time spent of three hours per day. Moreover, 5G plays a crucial role in business-related operations, with many supporting infrastructures and utilisation of 5G to gain an advantage over competitors, indicating the major impact that digital technology has on society. As a result of the sheer size as well as the substantial usage of technology in Thailand, The Board of Investment of Thailand (BOI) offers businesses many incentives to promote activities that enhance the digital economy in the country.
A Multitude of Supports for Digital Industry
The main incentives provided relating to different activities associated with the digital industry are tax exemption and import benefits. The creation of software or value-added software for business operations as well as digital platforms to support online customers and digital content are all examples of promotional measures. These help businesses integrate digital systems into their operations and effectively provide services for the increase in online customers in the new normal world. Moreover, digital services and e-commerce for business qualify for promotions as the nation becomes more digital-oriented. As a nation, the Board of Investment of Thailand wants to promote the construction of innovation hubs that enhance the population’s knowledge about digital industry and prepare younger individuals for the digitalised world. The upshot is BOI incentives that promote building digital parks, innovation incubation centres, co-working spaces and other related educational centres that support awareness of the digital world and technology-related aspects. To support all this, the BOI includes infrastructure in the promotional measures that aid supply chain linking businesses and help grow the economy at global scale, including international high-speed marine communication circuits through other countries as well as data centres and cloud facilities.
Overall, the BOI recognises the importance of technology to the growth of the economy. As such, it has constructed various policies to support growing digital adoption in businesses in Thailand. Interlinkage software that connects different functions in enterprises and partially outside enterprises with a minimum of three functions and data links between them allow enhancement of resource management. They increase efficiency of the products or services a company provides as do software, programs, and information technology that links and exchanges data between companies’ systems and online systems in the public sector such as national e-payment services. All these are activities approved by the BOI.
In addition, general incentives applied to all forms of businesses include promotional measures for R&D in technology, training and development of personnel in digital fields, advanced technology training, and more.
Digital systems have a major impact on all forms of businesses in the country as it amplifies the efficiency of business operations and aligns businesses to the demands of consumers.
Success in the Digital Industry
True Digital Group, founded in 2017, is set to become a major tech firm in ASEAN over the next three-to-five years. An example of a firm that has received BOI incentives, its operations involve e-payment services, lending platforms, telemedicine, integration of digital services into industries and much more. True Digital Group’s telemedicine has been core to providing relief from the pandemic by effectively and efficiently connecting customers and health services. Its operations expand to the agriculture sector with technology to support livestock, monitoring its behaviours and health and reducing costs in the process. Artificial intelligence has been consolidated into the business structure, providing support for the breeding of livestock such as chickens and pigs. On a commercial scale, it supports retail businesses through data analytics which enables companies to gain competitive advantages.
Readiness to Adapt to the Digitalised World
The Board of Investment of Thailand aims to promote foreign investment in various industries in Thailand through a range of incentives. Several general incentives promote technology research and development as well as competitiveness enhancement measures that enable Thailand to be a major player regionally and potentially globally.
The digital industry can be seen as the technical backbone of the economy. The digital economy has a major impact on other industries where digital systems and devices are becoming part of everyday life. The BOI not only provides incentives to promote certain activities but also promotes training and development of skilled personnel in digital sectors, leading to an abundance of skilled workforce in the digital industry.
Meanwhile, the government has laws and regulations such as the Electronic Transaction Act and Data Privacy Act in place to accommodate the expansion of the digitalised world. Overall, BOI provides a lot of support to the digital economy while continuously considering more measures to keep up with the digital world’s exponential growth.
