IT spending to be on a slowdown across Asia

IT spending in Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) will drop to a growth rate of 7.1% in 2009, a decrease from 10.2% in 2008, said Singapore-based research group Springboard Research.

According to Springboard's executive brief Asia Pacific IT Market Predictions 2009 released today, all countries in the region will be affected, but the degree of fallout from the economic crisis will differ by country.

Countries at highest risk of a slowdown include the most developed economies of the region, such as Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand. Less developed, emerging and boom Asian economies, such as Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam run a lower risk of a spending slowdown.


Like other regions of the world, Asia will experience an IT spending slowdown during 2009 as all organizations re-look at spending in the wake of the global economic crisis, said Dane Anderson, CEO and EVP of Research at Springboard Research.

However, even with slower growth Asia will continue to emerge as a critical region for IT vendors and we will continue to see a substantial shift in investment moving to Asia and other global emerging markets. While the crisis will affect Asia in 2009, it will also further cement the region as crucial to any global company s growth strategy moving forward, Anderson added.

According to the study, countries in the High Risk Index are Australia, Hong Kong, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand. However there is some good news for India as it has been placed in the 'lower risk' segment.

"As illustrated in our predictions, we expect that most organizations in the region will be modifying their IT strategy from a focus on supporting revenue generation to an approach aimed at improving efficiencies," said Ravi Shekhar Pandey, manager - Syndicated Research at Springboard Research. There will be a continued focus on reducing operational expenditure, both from business and IT perspectives. On the positive side, while technology spending will definitely be affected by this crisis, it will be more resilient than other areas that are often easier and quicker to cut.

Technology will be more resilient than other areas of spending among enterprises and will be difficult to cut, according to Springboard.