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Government Analytics, Policy, Technology

Asian govts to spend more on software in downturn

By Kelly Ng | 8 June 2009

Governments in Asia Pacific will continue to spend on software despite the economic downturn, an IDC study has shown.

Forty-five per cent of public sector institutions interviewed expect to maintain spend on software over the next 18 months, while 31 per cent will look to increase software spend or deploy new software. Only six per cent will cut their software budgets, the study revealed.

Thirty-two per cent of government respondents see implementation or upgrading of system infrastructure software as key. Twelve per cent of projects will be focused on improving information technology (IT) governance and compliance.

Most software spend will go on solutions related to system management, security and storage, database management and business intelligence, predicts Wilvin Chee, Research Director, Asia Pacific Software Research. Chee expects to see a surge in investment on customer relationship management and enterprise resource management applications particularly in countries such as India, China, Indonesia and Vietnam.

While most still prefer an on-premise subscription model that gives them more control over reliability and security, 17 per cent of respondents with an increased software budget are interested in subscribing to the pay-per-use (or software-as-a-service) model - an increase from 2.6 per cent on last year.Nine per cent are looking at open source.

“We believe that better product values and offerings, coupled with current economic pressures, are the main reasons why more companies will consider pay-per-use. Open source is also gaining traction, particularly in countries such as Australia and China, where companies are attracted to benefits such as low upfront investments, no lock-in period, and access to code modifications,” said Chee.

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