Springboard Predicts APAC IT Market For 2007

In its latest study, Springboard Research has predicted that IT System Agility, Manageability and Cost Effectiveness will be the three key factors driving the Asian IT market in 2007.

The research, based on interviews of top CIOs and IT decision makers from the region indicated that Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), Software as a Service (SaaS), Virtualization and Mobility are going to be the technologies to watch out for in the next year.

“When combined with the emergence of Asia as a key engine for global economic growth, 2007 is sure to present unique opportunities to IT vendors well positioned to take advantage of the dominant market trends,” said Dane Anderson, CEO & EVP of Research at Springboard Research.

According to the study, the Asian market could witness following trends in the next year:

- IT Vendors will see Service-Oriented Architecture guiding a larger percentage of their customers’ IT infrastructure investments.

- Virtualization will mature and come into its own in 2007, driving changes in hardware and software pricing models.

- Organizations will see a sharp increase in their focus on network-friendly applications.

- Windows Vista will stimulate IT buying activity, but mainstream adoption will be delayed in 2007.

- Software as a Service will see substantial gains in acceptance among Asia Pacific enterprises.

- Mobility will transition from being a secondary issue to a key element of enterprise IT strategy.

- 2007 will see an increase in the number of strategic partnerships in the Open Source arena.

- The SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) segment will continue its momentum in 2007, and increasingly turn to outsourced solutions.

- Indian IT service providers will come under increasing pressure from MNC providers.

- Indian IT service providers will be more aggressive with acquisitions, with one major tie-up expected before the end of the year.

“CIOs and IT Managers are being forced to do more with less. Even when their budgets increase, it seems as if organizational technology needs are increasing even quicker,” opined Ravi Shekhar Pandey, Senior Market Analyst for Springboard Research. “In 2007 companies in Asia will continue to increase their spending, but they will be more focused on serving business needs instead of being seen as just buying technology.”