IDC ASEAN DIRECTIONS 2008: Giving Perspective To Regional IT Markets

KUALA LUMPUR, 30 April 2008 – The annual conference held by leading IT market research and advisory firm IDC records a first this year in Malaysia, by holding its inaugural ASEAN Directions yesterday, providing market opportunity insights into the various ICT markets in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

IDC's annual Directions conference is recognized as the industry's premier ICT event worldwide, delivering an informative and actionable perspective of the issues shaping the technology industry, and the resulting impact on the businesses of IT providers and users.

Managing Director Selinna Chin said, "In Malaysia, we are building on this reputation and making the event even more relevant to the in-country management executives by providing global, regional, and ASEAN specific insights, as well as vertical industry perspectives in the government, financial and manufacturing sectors. This way, we are giving much more value to our business attendees as they are now able to better understand the ICT market trends and evolution that impacts their playing field in the ASEAN region.” Based on the success of the IDC ASEAN Directions 2008, Selinna plans to continue this annual ‘insights’ tradition in April every year.

Entitled ’IDC ASEAN Directions 2008 - Tech X.O: Mastering New Business Models and Markets’, the conference focused on the continuous innovation that is taking place in product offerings, development models, distribution models and usage models, which are in turn driving new offerings and models, fueling new demands in traditional and emerging customer segments, redefining industry alliances, and ultimately, shaping new business models and offerings.

Selinna said that the unprecedented "hyper disruption" in the IT and communications landscape, driven by endless innovation, has opened up new growth opportunities for IT suppliers. “Basically, this is the crux of the IDC ASEAN Directions 2008 message that is incorporated into the various presentations throughout the day-long conference. Each speaker tackled key IT-market issues such as being a tech-savvy enterprise; the involvement of the web in the transformation of IT services and their pricing structures; new corporate ‘ecosystems’ that are forming…amongst others.”

Attracting over 100 attendees from Vietnam, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, the IDC ASEAN Directions 2008 saw the participation of 17 IDC analyst speakers from around the region, each bringing their expertise in the various subject matters such as Unified Communications, ‘Software As a Service’ models, IT Services Transformation, and New Media and Digital Marketplace.

The following is a brief summary of the some country-based insights shared at the event. (More details can be obtained from IDC Malaysia at the below contacts):

For Indonesia:

• Indonesia’s recent spike in inflation will continue to shrink disposable income levels, which will lead to IT spend reduction among consumers.
• The optimal balance between the government’s subsidized fuel policy and generation of more export money will have strong impact on available funds for IT infrastructure expenditure.

For Malaysia:

• The government is expected to cushion any negative impact with a series of different ICT related initiatives.
• The promotion of Malaysia as a potential shared services hub would likely help to drive business investments and services exports

For Philippines:

• Like Thailand,the US is the largest export market for the Philippines so the US downturn will impact export businesses and manufacturers,hamper IT investments.
• Strong remittance levels will continue to support real disposable income,driving domestic IT demand

For Thailand:

• As US is Thailand’s largest export market, weakening demand would impact the export sector marginally. However the incoming government is likely to run a stimulatory fiscal policy to boost spending on IT infrastructure development projects.
• Business investments are projected to return with strong growth rates as a result of investment pull back in the last 15 months.

For Vietnam

• The government released its inflation-control strategy on March 3rd, which is expected to bring relief to the region’s highest inflation growth
• Overall high economic growth is driving disposable income & domestic demand upward, this should offset any detrimental affect of weakening global demand & continue to drive healthy IT investment
• Public sector spending on IT will continue with business investments expected to flow in

For press enquiries, please contact Belinda Yap at +603-2169-7521 or byap@idc.com

About IDC

IDC is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. IDC helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community make fact-based decisions on technology purchases and business strategy. Over 1000 IDC analysts in 110+ countries provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends. For more than 43 years IDC has provided strategic insights to help our clients achieve their key business objectives. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research, and events company. You can learn more about IDC by visiting http://www.idc.com.

Contact

For more information, contact:

Belinda Yap
Senior Executive, Events and Marketing Services
Tel: +603-2169-7521
Fax: +603-2163-5098
Email:byap@idc.com