Singapore CIOs invest in innovative offbeat IT tools
ConvergenceAsia staff
09/07/2009

Results from research company IDC's ongoing survey, Asia Pacific Dynamic IT Benchmark 2009, reveal that 59.1 per cent of Singapore CIOs are increasing their investments in building new business applications based on Web 2.0 technologies (Portals, Mashups) and 66.7 per cent are actively standardising corporate business processes with emerging business management tools. 59.1 per cent are also actively revamping social networking and collaboration services for employees in 2009.

"We are at an interesting juncture", says Dr. Patrick Chan, Chief Technology Advisor for IDC's Asia Pacific Emerging Technology Council. "As a result of the financial downturn, corporations are under mounting pressure to invest only in IT technology that can help their businesses save costs and grow at the same time. As a result, CIOs today have very challenging roles to play. They need to balance savings against IT investments in order to achieve optimal growth for their organisations."

To date, 71 Singapore CIOs have responded to this Asia Pacific-wide survey which is ongoing. Here are the current findings about CIOs in Singapore:

1. In 2009, 62.1 per cent of the Singapore CIOs surveyed are investing on Business Intelligence (BI) tools. 59.1 per cent of the enterprises are also more active in data centre server virtualisation projects with 42.4 per cent also spending in client/desktop virtualisation initiatives.

2. 45.5 per cent of the Singapore CIOs interviewed are currently deploying an IT refresh strategy that focuses on service-oriented architecture (SOA). 42.6 per cent of them plan to move major applications to flexible, on-demand web-services SOA environment.

3. 37 per cent of these CIOs are trying out new IT financing strategies. These companies are shifting from IT leasing to subscription of IT software and hardware rental over a period of 36 months.

4. 66.7 per cent of the Singapore CIOs surveyed are preparing to outsource and interestingly, 37 per cent of them are willing to host their IT infrastructure and business data in a third-party environment. This indicates that Singapore CIOs are open to newer IT business operating models like cloud computing and software-as-a-service (SaaS). It is also observed that CIOs interested in cloud computing have radically different IT focus and priorities in contrast to the majority.

5. 53 per cent of the respondents in Singapore say that their key focus areas are to reduce costs and improve profit margins through IT. As majority of these CIOs saw a decline in their IT budget, high priority has now been placed on optimising their existing IT infrastructure, and reviewing IT service and cost alignment with business in response to the existing economic crisis.

Patrick likens CIOs to catalysts as majority of them are now given the added role of aiding business growth and managing cost in a big way. He advises, "It is imperative for CIOs to understand emerging trends in IT as well as the business directions in order to align their organisations on the right pathway to a better future."

Detailed findings of the study, including CIO IT priorities differences in area of cloud computing adoption will be revealed at IDC's Asia Pacific CIO Summit 2009 at Marriott Hotel in Singapore on 14 July. This year’s summit will focus on the theme "Winning Strategies of Empowered CIOs in Asia Pacific" and bring together fresh perspectives from IDC analysts, the best minds from resilient enterprises, and collective intelligence from top business leaders in the Asia Pacific region to address challenges associated with the current economic climate.

At this Summit, IDC will also be announcing the Singapore winners of the top 10 IDC-Enterprise Innovation Award 2009. This award pays tribute to the top 10 CIOs in Asia Pacific who have used technology, IT projects and IT systems in innovative ways to derive the highest strategic value and yield the greatest returns for their organisations, whether by creating competitive advantage, optimising business processes, enabling growth or improving relationships with customers.

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