Asia to rebound in 2010 with IT expenditure growing

December 23, 2009

IT expenditure in Asia is set to grow at 8.8% in 2010, an increase from 6.4% in 2009, predicts Springboard Research, a leading innovator in the IT Market Research industry. According to Springboard’s executive brief Asia Pacific IT Market Predictions 2010released today, Asia has fared better than the rest of the world, fuelled by continued growth in China, India, and other markets, Asia has not seen the carnage that the Western economies have experienced and while Asia has taken its lumps, it is emerging much quicker and this is reflected in the IT spending throughout the region.

According to the Springboard Report, organizations are expected to continue to focus on extracting greater value from existing IT investments versus significant, new capital expenditure. Additionally, they will continue to focus on reducing operational expenditure from both business and IT perspectives. Data center transformations, IT manageability advancements and virtualization investments are finally helping “move the needle” downward on the traditionally high and stubborn costs to simply ‘keep the lights on’.

According to Springboard Research, the top 10 trends that will shape enterprise IT in the Asia Pacific region in 2010 are (more detail on each is included in the Executive Brief):

# 1) Analytics, and the Evolution Towards ‘Intelligent Solutions’ more Broadly, Emerges as a Key Driver of New Business Value

# 2) The Convergence of Computing Platforms Accelerates

# 3) Cloud Computing Momentum Will Increase Dramatically

# 4) Virtualization Will Play an Increasingly Critical Role on the Desktop

# 5) Mobile Devices and Applications are crucial for Overcoming the Digital Divide in Emerging  Markets

# 6) Collaboration Continues to Shine as Organizations Leverage Initiatives Put in Place During  the Economic Crisis

# 7) A Wave of Innovative New Payment Technologies Will Emerge

# 8) Online Developer Platforms and Communities Are the New Ecosystem Battleground & Epicenter of Application Innovation

# 9) Social Networking Will Be as Accessible and Commercialized as the Internet Itself

# 10) IT Abstraction Forces CIOs to Change or Fall by the Wayside

Springboard analysts have also assigned awards for the key dynamics in the Asian IT industry, highlighted in the table below:

Award 2009
IT Buzzword of the Year Cloud Computing (2nd year in a row)
IT Trend of the Year Social Networking
Asian IT Company of the Year Singapore Telecom
Acquisition of the Year Oracle/Sun

The Springboard brief disclosed that in spite of the generally optimistic position of Asia, there are indeed risks and challenges facing the market in 2010. IT buyers and prospects are returning to a more ‘normal’ state of IT investments, but they remain cautious and increasingly skeptical of vendor guidance.  IT solution providers can expect sales cycles and the quality of prospects to improve over 2009, but to remain more challenging than before the crisis.

Springboard concludes that the economic crisis, while being destructive has also helped drive actions and decisions that have positioned organizations in Asia for a year of growth in 2010. The crisis has helped Asian companies become leaner and more productive.  The  brief also stated that technology is set to witness continued growth as the market rebounds and companies continue increasing their IT investments to compete in the global economy. Overall, it will be a year of increased investments, increased spending, and greater opportunities for technology vendors present in the region.