|
| [November 05, 2009] |
 |
Professional Services Are Driving IT Services Spending among SMBs in the Developed Asia-Pacific Region
SINGAPORE --(Business Wire)--
Small and medium businesses (SMBs or companies with less than 1,000 employees) in the developed APAC region (comprising Australia, Korea and Japan) are increasingly using IT services to reduce operational costs, ensure productivity, maintain competitive edge and support growth in the face of the economic downturn.
The impact of the global economic crisis has led these SMBs to tighten their IT budget purse strings as many are keen to see concrete benefits from their investments in IT. In 2008, IT services spending among SMBs in Australia, Japan and Korea exceeded US$23 billion, mainly driven by professional services, which accounted for almost two thirds of the total IT services spending. Over the next 5 years, spending on IT services is expected to post a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 10%.
"IT services is a growth area for these SMBs because companies want to be able to minimize operational expenses and devote valuable resources to their core businesses ensuring the delivery of quality products and services to their customers," according to Mr. Augusto Roman P. Carlos, IT Services Senior Analyst at AMI-Partners Singapore.
The key opportunity areas for IT services spending are centered on development and integration, IT management and process management. "With these SMBs typically having mature ICT infrastructure, requirements are mostly focused on integrating hardware and software that allow businesses to be operationally efficient and competitive in the global business environment," maintains Mr. Carlos. "Moreover, they want assurance that their systems and processes function effectively on a daily basis and that any IT issues will immediately be resolved and disruptions minimized."
Specifically, IT management is an important aspect of IT services because it allows companies to satisfy requirements that cannot be addressed internally and has proven to be a cost-effective option.
Still, key business challenges remain for SMBs in Australia, Japan and Korea that impact their spending behavior. Japan SMBs place high value on growing revenues and finding and retaining good vendors and suppliers given the current business climate. Australia SMBs indicated that finding and retaining talented employees is their main business challenge, whereas Korea SMBs want to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Vendors must have the right market intelligence and framework in place to be able to seize a piece of the developed APAC IT services pie. "Further educating SMBs on the benefits of engaging in IT services and assuring them of the security of their IT management needs, especially if they are considering outsourcing, will greatly benefit businesses and vendors alike. Moreover, understanding the SMB IT decision-making process and key influencers, what their main sources of information are, and who are the channels used will be the key components to driving IT services adoption in the developed APAC region in 2009 and beyond," says Mr. Carlos.
Related Studies
AMI Partners' 2009 Developed APAC (Australia, Korea & Japan) Small & Medium Businesses - IT Services Market Opportunity technology sector report focuses on the IT Services opportunity among small and medium businesses in the developed Asia-Pacific countries. The report contains analysis on SMBs' IT services usage behavior, adoption trends, spending patterns, drivers and attitudes, purchase decision-making, channels, media usage and business issues driven message.
Based on AMI's annual surveys of SMBs across Asia Pacific excluding Japan the study tracks a broad spectrum of issues pertaining to budgets, purchase behaviors, decision influencers, channel preferences, outsourcing, service and support. Also covered are detailed firmographics and critically important technology attitudes and strategic planning priorities.
AMI's quarterly SMB tracking study - Q-Pulse (News - Alert) - is conducted in eleven countries: U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, France, UK, Germany, China, India, Korea, and Australia. The study surveys business decision makers of small and medium businesses from four perspectives: 1) Mindset, economic impact and the actions that are being taken to manage their businesses; 2) IT purchase plans including spending, brands and planning; 3) Buying behaviors including routes to market and decision making, and 4) Insights for fine-tuning Go-to-Market plans including value propositions, messaging, marketing mix and more.
For more information about this study, AMI-Partners, or our global SMB research, call Augusto Roman P. Carlos at +65-62205535 ext 109, e-mail ask_ami@ami-partners.com
or visit our web site at www.ami-partners.com.
About Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc.
AMI-Partners specializes in IT, Internet, telecommunications and business services strategy, venture capital, and actionable market intelligence with a strong focus on global small and medium businesses (SMBs), and extending into large enterprises and home-based businesses. The AMI-Partners mission is to empower clients for success with the highest quality data, business strategy perspectives and "go-to-market" solutions. Led by Andy Bose, the firm has built a world-class management team with deep experience cutting across IT, telecommunications and business services sectors in established and emerging markets.
AMI-Partners have helped shape the go-to-market SMB strategies of more than 150 leading IT, Internet, telecommunications and business services companies. The firm is well known for its IT and Internet adoption-based segmentation of the SMB markets; its annual retainership services based on global SMB tracking surveys in more than 25 countries; and its proprietary database of SMBs and SMB channel partners in the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific. The firm invests significantly in collecting survey-based information from several thousand SMBs annually, and is considered the premier source for global SMB trends and analysis.
[ Back To greentechnologyworld.com's Homepage ]
|
