2009 is ‘conservative’ ICT year--XMG
By Anna Valmero
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 15:50:00 01/09/2009
Filed Under: business process outsourcing (BPO), Computing & Information Technology, Technology (general)
MANILA, Philippines – Good guidance and wise investment on information and communications technology will be the top concern among chief executives in Asia Pacific as the financial meltdown continues this year, market research firm XMG said.
XMG forecasts the Asia Pacific market to grow to 6.3 percent this year, the lowest since the Asian financial crisis of the 1990s.
Despite this, the region still outperforms the global average growth of 2.4 percent, the research firm said.
Asia Pacific will also outspend other regions, with Japan as top spender in the region at 1.4 percent, followed by China and India.
To cope with the downturn, XMG analysts said companies will turn to information technology and outsourcing. Both will drive business efficiency across the region.
The outsourcing sector alone will rise 24.2 percent until 2010, with captive operations and third-party service providers as growth drivers, the research firm said.
Major destinations in the region will include India, China, the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Meanwhile, the semiconductor industry in the region will suffer major job cuts.
Growth for the first quarter is conservative at 1.9 percent. Rebound for the industry is not expected until 2010, said XMG analysts.
Job losses are also expected in Taiwan, China, the Philippines, Korea and Vietnam, the research firm said.
There will also be job cuts in the financial and industrial sectors, said XMG.
With these job cuts, the rate of cybercrime and malicious attacks on the Internet will increase at “unprecedented levels.” Threat management will focus on intrusion control and improved detection and prevention, XMG said.
Meanwhile, more enterprises will adopt open source solutions. Open source versions of standard application server software will gain credibility as alternative to vendor offerings. For this, policies to control the sector must be addressed, said XMG.
XMG said implementing financial planning, information security solutions, financial planning for ICT, mobile security for workers, strong technology portfolio and investing on workforce are other top trends for the year for 2009.
The report was based on a survey completed at the end of 2008 with company decision makers as respondents.
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