Collaboration software market to reach US$1.2b by 2012
ConvergenceAsia staff
18/12/2008

A growing number of businesses in the Asia Pacific region is deploying software that facilitates a range of real time and rich media collaboration, spurring the market for collaboration software to grow at a CAGR of 17 per cent from 2008 to 2012, says the latest report from IT market research and advisory firm Springboard Research. Springboard’s report titled “Collaboration Software Applications & Tools in Asia Pacific” says that this market – which includes email solutions, real time collaboration solutions like web conferencing, application or document sharing, social networking tools, and collaboration platforms – will reach US$1.242 billion by 2012.

According to the report, China is the leading market for collaboration tools and technologies with a market share of 27 per cent, followed by Australia and Korea. India is forecasted to register the highest CAGR in the region and the country will replace Korea as the third largest regional market by 2011. The report also revealed that the banking and financial services sector is the leading user of collaboration tools and technologies, followed by government and high tech industries.

“We believe that the current economic situation will not derail growth in the collaboration software market even when organisations go slow on other IT purchases; in fact, spending in areas like web conferencing and unified communications will get a boost from companies’ rush for initiatives to cut costs and streamline operations,” said Ravi Shekhar Pandey, Research Manager at Springboard Research. “Many big organisations are including collaboration as a key ingredient in their large IT implementations and enterprise productivity and innovation are other two factors driving the movement towards collaboration within Asia Pacific enterprises,” Pandey added.

The report also revealed that a majority of Asian businesses are wary of exposing their employees to web-based social networking tools; with over 90 per cent of respondents reporting no plans to use blogs/wikis or social networking tools in the next 12 months. These findings are based on a survey of 469 CIOs and business managers from large and medium enterprises in Australia/New Zealand, China, India, Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines.

Among all the collaboration tools and technologies, web Conferencing and VoIP will see the most deployments in the enterprise in Asia Pacific region in the next six to 12 months. Other tools and applications are likely to see a more cautious deployment with majority of organisations not considering any deployment over the next 12 months.

The respondents in the study perceive Microsoft as the leading collaboration technology vendor, followed by IBM. Both these players have a strong presence in the Asia Pacific collaboration software and tools market, largely on account of the broad range of offerings that they have.

“While our research shows that the global vendors have a leadership position in most collaboration technology segments in this region, the local vendors too have an important role in shaping the directions of the market, especially in China and Australia,” Pandey said.

The Springboard Research report, “Collaboration Software Applications & Tools in Asia Pacific,” identifies and analyses key trends, concepts and emerging paradigms in collaboration in Asia Pacific enterprises. A key objective of the report is to identify and analyse key collaboration technologies, software applications and tools being used by organisations in the region and analyse user perception/understanding of collaboration models, concepts, solutions, tools and technologies.

The report analyses major trends in collaboration software and services market in the Asia Pacific and profiles leading collaboration software and services vendors, their offerings and strategies. Findings of this report are based on interviews with 469 CIOs and business managers from Australia/New Zealand, China, India, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. These respondents are from large and SMB organisations in different verticals. The report also presents key data on the collaboration software applications and tools market in Asia Pacific.

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