CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 18, 2005--In its first
ever pan-Asian survey, Forrester Research, Inc. (NASDAQ: FORR), finds
that IT budgets are up in Asia Pacific, with 36 percent of firms
increasing their spending on technology in 2005 compared with 17
percent that are decreasing spending. A majority of the firms also
have a positive outlook about the future -- 53 percent expect the next
12 months to be good for their industry. This survey joins Forrester's
regular assessment of IT decision-makers' opinions of technology
adoption, budgets, and governance across North America and Europe. The
healthy budgets and favorable industry outlooks in Asia Pacific were
well aligned with their global counterparts.
"We found that economic maturity and growth rates were relative
indicators of the varying responses to IT adoption and spending across
Asia. IT spending increases are pronounced in India and ASEAN, while
South Korea, which is struggling to regain economic growth, is the
only country to see net budget decreases," said John C. McCarthy, vice
president, Forrester Research. "In general IT spending priorities are
healthy -- overall, 21 percent of spending is going towards new IT
initiatives. However, Japan and Australia and New Zealand stand out,
having committed the largest percentage of IT budget to ongoing
maintenance."
Forrester surveyed 700 firms in China, Japan, Australia and New
Zealand, India, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) about the state of their spending and
industries in 2005 and beyond. To benchmark these organizations in
context, the survey consisted of the same questions Forrester asked
North American and European technology decision-makers in June and
November 2004. Overall, Forrester found that:
-- Improving workforce productivity was rated the highest average
priority for Asia Pacific IT shops, just as it is in North
American shops.
-- The exact same percentage of firms in Asia Pacific and North
America -- 59 percent -- has centralized IT departments.
-- Overall spending on IT services is up for 30 percent of firms
-- nearly matching North American levels -- with the largest
firms clearly leading the way.
-- Only 20 percent of respondents indicated that they are already
deploying supply chain solutions -- less than half that of
North American firms. Taiwan has the highest percentage of
firms with a supply chain solution deployed.
Basic priorities, such as security, consolidating infrastructure,
systems management, and application integration, top the list for IT
spending over the next 12 months. In general, developing economies
like India and China were more likely to view these basic priorities
as critical. The established economies of Australia and New Zealand
and Japan lead in software adoption, with Web services software the
most widely adopted. Open source software and Linux received strong
interest with 41 percent of firms considering Linux.
Breakout By Country
When looking at the countries individually, Forrester found that
while overall budgets are increasing, IT staffing is increasing more
modestly, with the majority of firms in most countries holding IT
staff flat. Specific country data follows:
-- Australia and New Zealand. Integration and consolidation lead
to modest budget increases, with 68 percent citing data center
or server consolidation as a priority. Thirty-eight percent of
respondents have seen IT budget increases, placing them
squarely between North America and Europe.
-- China. Basic infrastructure and eCommerce are the focus of
investment, with 47 percent of firms increasing spending on
Internet and eCommerce initiatives. Twenty-five percent of
Chinese firms haves seen modest budget increases, which is
consistent with their global counterparts.
-- India. Firms in India are setting the investment pace, with 34
percent of respondents allocating budgets for new IT
initiatives. Unlike their peers, not one of the Indian firms
indicated that it planned to decrease IT staff. Security and
application integration top the list of priorities, with 80
and 78 percent citing as priorities respectively.
-- Japan. Firms in Japan are cautiously increasing their IT
budgets over 2004, are slightly decreasing staffing, and are
spending very little on new IT initiatives. Infrastructure
spending will focus heavily on networking equipment and
security, with 47 percent of firms increasing spending in
these categories.
-- South Korea. Twenty-four percent of respondents are decreasing
their IT spending, due in part to low economic growth.
Infrastructure spending in South Korea will focus most heavily
on security in the next 12 months, with 46 percent of firms
increasing spending.
The research mentioned in this release, "The State Of Asia Pacific
Technology Adoption And Governance," and specific midyear spending
outlooks for Australia and New Zealand, China, India, Japan, and South
Korea are available to WholeView 2(TM) clients and can be found at
www.forrester.com.
About Forrester
Forrester Research (Nasdaq: FORR) is an independent technology and
market research company that provides pragmatic and forward-thinking
advice about technology's impact on business and consumers. For 22
years, Forrester has been a thought leader and trusted advisor,
helping global clients lead in their markets through its research,
consulting, events, and peer-to-peer executive programs. For more
information, visit www.forrester.com.
CONTACT: Forrester Research, Inc.
Kristen Wilson, 617-613-6205
press@forrester.com
SOURCE: Forrester Research, Inc.
