Thursday 7 July 2011

Malaysia's ICT to perform better

Coming out strong from the 2009 recession, Malaysia's Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector is expected to continue to see potential for growth in 2011 through opportunities in both domestic and international market expansion.

SEVERAL INDUSTRY RESEARCH firms forecast that Malaysia's ICT sector is expected to enjoy a better performance this year where growth will be driven by several emerging technological trends.


Research firm IDC notes that IT spending in the country will grow by 9% from US$5.9 billion in 2010 to US$6.5 billion this year. Spending in the telecommunication sector is expected to hit US$7.3 billion in 2011, up 5.3% 2010.


IDC Asean research manager Roger Ling says that the total IT spending for Malaysia, driven mainly by purchases of hardware and packaged software, grew 6% in 2010.


He stresses that the growth in IT spending in 2011 is expected to be driven by factors such as the government's continued efforts to increase the level of broadband penetration, and outsourcing initiatives by organizations looking to address the increased IT complexity.


`Other factors include the continued adoption of system infrastructure software to operate and manage computing resources,' he predicts.


UK-based Business Monitor International (BMI), another leading source of market intelligence encompassing Country Risk, Financial Markets and Industry Research also forecast similar growth for Malaysia's ICT's spending.


In its First Quarter Market Overview released recently, BMI forecasts that Malaysian IT spending is expected to grow to U$5.2bn in 2011, from US$4.8bn in 2010, when the market stablised following the impact of a difficult economic and political situation.

The report says that the market should be boosted by ICT- friendly 2011 budget measures and growing interest in cloud computing, but much will depend on confidence in a sustainable economic recovery.


There will be increasingly attractive opportunities in the IT services area as the government implements measures to make Malaysia a regional services hub. The government has a number of initiatives with favourable implications for demand for IT products and services, including computers for education programmes.

The market has strong growth fundamentals and key sectors will include government, telecoms and finance, including Islamic banking. The National Broadband Initiative also has the potential to boost demand across all IT market segments.


 In addition, the report points out that the Industry Development Malaysia's 2011 budget contained a number of measures to boost the IT industry and help stimulate ICT adoption in the country. Key measures included a two-year extension on import tax and sales tax exemption on broadband equipment, and the establishment of the MY Creative Content programme to encourage the development of local content. The tax exemption should stimulate the purchase of various types of connectivity devices, including notebook PCs.

Malaysia named cloud computing as the most important of its top 10 strategic technology priorities for 2010. The government hopes that adoption of cloud computing, building on the National Broadband Initiative, could accelerate Malaysia's development into an advanced economy.


COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

The Malaysia's ICT marketplace promises to be a profitable ground for many vendors as well.

For example, over the next three years, from 2010-2012, notebook market leader Acer has targeted double-digit growth as the economy recovers from recession. The company is also focused on improving its share in the professional segment, where it has only around a 10% share, compared with 18% worldwide. Acer's aim is to double its share of the Malaysian commercial PC market within the next one to two years.

Growing investment in data centres and ICT infrastructure have helped to drive interest in cloud computing business models, which are now being actively promoted by vendors in the Malaysia market.

In July 2010, IBM said that it would build an `animation cloud' for the government-based Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC). The cloud will provide online computing resources for Malaysian designers and graphic artists.

Another exciting focus for Microsoft and other software vendors is to make products more affordable to the key small and medium- sized enterprises (SME) segment. In 2010, Microsoft said that it planned to accelerate cloud computing solutions for Malaysian SMEs as this model is regarded as having high potential for its partners. In the first quarter of its FY10/11, India-based Ramco Systems launched a campaign to sign deals with channel partners in Malaysia to offer enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions to local companies.


COMPUTER SALES

BMI forecasts that the Malaysian computer hardware market, including notebooks and peripherals, will have a value of US$2.8bn in 2011, up from US$2.6bn in 2010. PC sales will be supported by the government's push for greater broadband penetration, for which an optimistic target of 75% by 2011 has been set.

Other factors include ICT in education programmes and a number of e- government initiatives. The government is determined to tackle the digital gap beyond the Klang Valley and is rolling out an extensive network of community PC centres. One of the target groups of the plan is middle- income potential computer owners who have the ability to afford a PC. Such initiatives, alongside falling prices, are opening up the market to lower income tiers.

Malaysia's addressable software market is expected to grow to US$857mil in 2011, consolidating a recovery in 2010 but businesses remain cautious and focused on ROI. By 2015, software spending is expected to rise healthily to US$1.3bil, with a software CAGR for 2011-2015 in the region of 11%.

E-business applications such as ERP and finance are finding increasing popularity in the business market as enterprises look to enhance productivity through automating accounting and other functions. Customer relationship management (CRM) is expected to be a double-digit growth opportunity despite the economic downturn. Software-as-a-service (SaaS) has achieved double-digit regional growth in Malaysia in the past couple of years but is still an early- stage market.


IT SERVICES

IT services spending, excluding telecommunications-related spending, is forecast to reach a value of US$1.6bn in 2011. After services was a bright spot for the IT market in 2010, remaining in positive growth territory. Over BMI's five-year forecast period, the most potential for large projects is in sectors such as financial services, oil and gas, telecoms and agriculture.

The government has accounted for about 15% of IT spending in recent years. The upgrade of core banking systems will drive bank spending on application services. The government also continues to try and create a more competitive environment in the telecoms sector, encouraging newly licensed WiMAX operators to roll out services.

E-Readiness Malaysia is developing most `e-society' indicators at a steady rate. The government is pursuing programmes to reduce the digital divide between urban and rural areas, with the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development cooperating with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and the national IT industry association on plans to establish more community PC centres in the country this year. Nearly 2,000 centres are already managed by the Economic Planning Unit.

Copyright 2011

Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved. 
from CLICK BNET: BNET 

author: MIOR AZHAR

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