Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The strategies, priorities and implementation plans of Asian IT leaders and professionals
Version: 1.0 20 March 2013 Authors: Angus Macaskill Survey programming, management, analysis: Gan Kwok Ling, Shirong Zeng, Blas Prieto
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................ 4 ABOUT THIS REPORT................................................................................................................................... 6 REPORT RELEASE SCHEDULE ................................................................................................................................. 6 ABOUT IT PRIORITIES .......................................................................................................................................... 6 ABOUT ZDNET AND CBS INTERACTIVE ................................................................................................................... 6 IT PRIORITIES .............................................................................................................................................. 7 OPTIMIZING CUSTOMER PROCESS - THE NUMBER ONE IT PRIORITY ............................................................................... 7 CUSTOMER PROCESS ALSO HEADS THE TOP 3 PRIORITIES LIST .................................................................................... 8 THE STRATEGIC POSITIONING OF ICT ........................................................................................................ 11 ICTS CONTRIBUTION TO THE BUSINESS COULD DO BETTER ..................................................................................... 11 THE ROLE OF CXOS IN DRIVING ICT-LED INNOVATION ............................................................................................. 12 CEOS ACTIVE INVOLVEMENT IS A BIG FACTOR........................................................................................................ 13 CEO INVOLVEMENT IN ICT IMPACTS BUSINESS SUCCESS ........................................................................................... 14 CXO INVOLVEMENT ALSO IMPORTANT.................................................................................................................. 15 ICT BUDGETS............................................................................................................................................. 16 ICT EXTERNAL SPENDING IN 2012 ....................................................................................................................... 16 ICT EXTERNAL SPENDING IN 2013 TO GROW BY 23% ON AVERAGE ........................................................................... 17 SPENDING INCREASES MORE WIDESPREAD IN 2013 COMPARED TO 2012 .................................................................... 18 BUSINESS PROFILE .................................................................................................................................... 19 THE COMPETITIVE POSITIONING OF RESPONDENT BUSINESSES.................................................................................... 19 ANNUAL REVENUES........................................................................................................................................... 20 DATACENTRE ............................................................................................................................................ 21 ROLE WITH RESPONSIBILITY FOR DATACENTRE ........................................................................................................ 21 DATACENTRE BUDGET IN 2013 V. 2012 ............................................................................................................... 22 MOST IMPORTANT DATACENTRE PROJECT IN 2013 ................................................................................................. 23 BUSINESS OBJECTIVES OF THE MOST IMPORTANT DATACENTRE PROJECT ...................................................................... 24 CURRENT IMPLEMENTATION STATUS .................................................................................................................... 25 FUTURE IMPLEMENTATION / UPGRADE PLANS ........................................................................................................ 26 EXTENT OF VIRTUALISATION................................................................................................................................ 27 CLOUD ...................................................................................................................................................... 28 ROLE WITH RESPONSIBILITY FOR PRIVATE CLOUD ..................................................................................................... 28 ROLE WITH RESPONSIBILITY FOR PUBLIC CLOUD....................................................................................................... 29 CLOUD EXTERNAL ICT SPENDING 2013 V. 2012 .................................................................................................... 30 MOST IMPORTANT CLOUD PROJECT IN 2013 ......................................................................................................... 31 BUSINESS OBJECTIVES OF MOST IMPORTANT CLOUD PROJECT .................................................................................... 32 CURRENT IMPLEMENTATION STATUS .................................................................................................................... 33 FUTURE IMPLEMENTATION / UPGRADE PLANS ........................................................................................................ 34 IT SECURITY .............................................................................................................................................. 35 RESPONSIBILITY FALLS ON SENIOR IT MANAGEMENT ................................................................................................ 35 FORMALIZED SECURITY POLICIES STILL NOT A BUSINESS NORM ................................................................................... 37 FUTURE IMPLEMENTATION / UPGRADE PLANS ........................................................................................................ 42 ANALYTICS ................................................................................................................................................ 43
ROLE WITH RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANALYTICS ........................................................................................................... 43 ANALYTICS EXTERNAL ICT SPENDING 2013 V. 2012 ............................................................................................... 44 MOST IMPORTANT ANALYTICS PROJECT IN 2013 .................................................................................................... 45 BUSINESS OBJECTIVES OF MOST IMPORTANT ANALYTICS PROJECT ............................................................................... 46 CURRENT IMPLEMENTATION STATUS .................................................................................................................... 47 FUTURE IMPLEMENTATION / UPGRADE PLANS ........................................................................................................ 48 NETWORKING / COMMUNICATIONS ........................................................................................................ 49 ROLE WITH RESPONSIBILITY FOR NETWORK / COMMUNICATIONS ............................................................................... 49 NETWORK / COMMUNICATIONS BUDGETS 2013 V. 2012 ........................................................................................ 50 MOST IMPORTANT NETWORK / COMMUNICATIONS PROJECT IN 2013 ........................................................................ 51 BUSINESS OBJECTIVES OF MOST IMPORTANT NETWORK / COMMUNICATIONS PROJECT ................................................... 52 CURRENT IMPLEMENTATION STATUS .................................................................................................................... 53 FUTURE IMPLEMENTATION / UPGRADE PLANS ........................................................................................................ 54 END USER COMPUTING ............................................................................................................................ 55 ROLE WITH RESPONSIBILITY FOR END USER COMPUTING ........................................................................................... 55 END USER COMPUTING EXTERNAL ICT SPENDING 2013 V. 2012 .............................................................................. 56 PRIMARY DESKTOP/LAPTOP OPERATING SYSTEM ..................................................................................................... 57 CURRENT IMPLEMENTATION STATUS .................................................................................................................... 58 FUTURE IMPLEMENTATION / UPGRADE PLANS ........................................................................................................ 59 METHODOLOGY AND RESPONDENTS ........................................................................................................ 60 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................ 60 RESPONDENT DEMOGRAPHICS ............................................................................................................................ 60
Executive Summary
For IT leaders in 2013, the customer is king The number one priority for IT this year in Asia is optimising customer processes. Over onequarter of organizations (28%) are prioritising IT toward the customer. Its a clear indication ICT is now more focused outside the organization than inside (by comparison, just 8% say internal business processes are a priority). Internal customers matter too. Delivering on IT service levels is the second most important priority cited by 14% of organizations. And since delivering to internal customers is often about supporting their service to external ones, these two main priorities are connected.
Cost-effective IT is effective IT Priorities to do with costs also rate high. A total of 17% are prioritising cost-reduction initiatives including reducing overall business costs (6%), reducing overall ICT costs (4%), increasing efficiencies in the datacentre (4%), and moving to cloud architecture (3%). Despite a host of other competing priorities, like providing a secure IT environment, and optimising processes with suppliers, the unmistakeable focus of IT in Asian organisations will be on the customer and on cost management.
IT external spending will increase 23% on 2012 Businesses will apply resources to customer process optimisation and other IT priorities in two ways through the increased external budgets at their disposal (on average up 23% on the prior year), and via cost savings from increased virtualisation and cloud initiatives. Three-quarters (75%) of businesses will increase external IT spending in 2013 compared to their 2012 spend. The corresponding survey in 2012 reported that 60% had increased budgets. The proportion of businesses with increases greater than 20% this year is almost double that from the 2012 IT Priorities study. Savvy IT vendors that help businesses with customer process optimisation and deliver cost efficiencies could find good market opportunities.
The CEO is a critical figure in successful IT With the exception of the CIO, the C-level executive most commonly driving ICT-led change is the CEO. 25% say the CEO does this to a great extent, and 22% say a lot. Organizations with a CEO whos proactively involved in ICT-led change say ICT makes a larger contribution to the business than others where the CEO is not so involved. These organizations are also more likely to be outperforming their industry peers.
Some technologies take precedence in supporting key business and IT priorities. In the datacentre, server virtualisation is this years biggest focus (30% of businesses are working on it in 2013). The most prevalent variant of cloud will be private cloud, and 44% will work on such projects. Despite the increasing security threats, the main focus in terms of IT Security is still network/perimeter security - 31% of businesses are implementing and/or upgrading these capabilities. In analytics, traditional tools like OLAP and data warehousing are the priority for 38% of businesses, way ahead of the newer big data analytics technologies, while in the network arena the primary focus is on network management tools.
Asian IT a changing picture The IT landscape in Asia can be thought of as one viewed through a shimmering heat haze. Sometimes the picture comes into focus, sometimes its less distinct. Its always changing, and changing differently in each country especially as emerging economies race forward, with concomitant demands on IT developments. This report is but one snapshot of that changing landscape, one we at ZDNet Asia hope adds to the clarity of the picture. The picture consists of many metaphorical pixels, and in the case of IT Priorities the pixels are the 1,236 of ZDNets audience who contributed around 20 minutes of their time to help us form a larger understanding. We sincerely thank you all for your contribution.
Subsequent Reports We will release subsequent addendums with further details on some of the technology areas covered at top-line level in this report. The first of these reports, ZDNet Asia IT Security Priorities 2013 sponsored by FireEye, is also released during w/c 18 Mar 2013. Please check back to http://www.zdnetasia.com for further category reports.
About IT Priorities
This is the third Asian instalment of IT Priorities, an annual survey from CBS Interactive about the strategies, priorities and implementation plans of IT leaders and professionals across the globe. In addition to this report, CBS Interactive is releasing reports covering IT markets in India, China, USA, UK, France, and Australia and New Zealand in coming weeks. Please refer to the Methodology chapter at the end of this report for more information about the report scope, respondent base and topics covered.
IT Priorities
Optimizing customer process - the number one IT Priority
In line with international trends, customers are getting most ICT attention in Asia
Optimising business processes for customers is the number one ICT priority in over onequarter of organizations (28%). This is a clear indication that ICT is now more focused outside the organization than inside (only 8% say internal business processes are a priority). The focus on customers is emphasised by the fact 10% are giving priority to improving information management for more informed decision-making (e.g. using data warehouses, analytics, big data) it is the 3rd highest priority. Internal customers matter too. ICT teams are also putting emphasis on delivering on IT service levels a priority for 14% of organizations.
Some of the focus on optimising customer processes will be made possible by reducing ICT spending elsewhere A total of 17% are prioritising cost-reduction initiatives including reducing overall business costs (6%), reducing overall ICT costs (4%), increasing efficiencies in the datacentre (4%), and moving to cloud architecture (3%).
Large organizations are giving marginally more emphasis to optimising business processes for customers (30%) than small (26%) and medium sized organizations (21%). Making it easy for customers to do business through whichever channel they choose is key here. Small and medium sized businesses cant afford to fall behind.
While Western surveys indicate ongoing efforts to migrate to Cloud architectures, such a shift is not a leading priority for Asian organizations (only 3% rate it as a priority), perhaps due to lower internal cost bases than in the west or concerns about data sovereignty. Only 4% of respondents rate reducing overall ICT costs as a priority Across organizations of all sizes, delivering on IT service levels and improving information management are the second and third strongest priorities, with the exception of medium sized organizations which rank optimising business processes with suppliers as their third biggest priority.
<100 Optimising business processes for customers Delivering on IT service levels Improving Information Management Optimising business processes with suppliers Optimising internal business processes Providing a secure ICT environment Reducing overall business costs Reducing overall ICT costs Increasing efficiencies / reducing costs in the datacentre Recruiting and developing the best ICT talent Providing fail-safe disaster recovery Moving to a Cloud architecture 26%
100-499 21%
500 + 30%
13% 9% 7%
16% 10% 8%
15% 14% 8%
10% 6% 6% 5% 5%
9% 7% 7% 4% 4%
6% 6% 8% 4% 5%
8% 6% 5% 3% 1%
5% 3% 4%
3% 5% 4%
2% 2% 2%
8% 1% 3%
IT priorities vary by economy. Reducing overall business costs and reducing overall IT Costs is a much bigger priority for Singapore, while internal business processes figure more strongly for Indonesian organizations. SG Optimising business processes for customers - e.g. CRM, self-service portals, e-commerce etc. Delivering on IT service levels (e.g. service availability, responsiveness) to business users Improving Information Management for more informed decision making (e.g. data warehousing, data analytics, Big data etc.) Optimising internal business processes e.g. HR, Finance etc. Optimising business processes with suppliers - e.g. ERP, Supply chain, procurement etc. Providing a secure ICT environment Reducing overall business costs Reducing overall ICT costs Increasing efficiencies / reducing costs in the datacentre Recruiting and developing the best ICT talent 27% 16% 5% 6% 6% 6% 12% 8% MY 23% 15% 7% 8% 10% 8% 7% 3% ID 27% 12% 11% 14% 9% 7% 3% 7% PH 32% 15% 14% 7% 6% 7% 4% 1% Other 22% 12% 11% 8% 13% 3% 8% 5%
4% 2%
5% 4%
5% 2%
4% 5%
3% 6%
4%
5%
2%
1%
2%
3%
3%
2%
3%
4%
Other
1%
1%
1%
1%
2%
Only one-quarter of respondents say their organization has a major contribution from ICT (15% say ICT is innovating, 10% say it is differentiating). At the lowest level of the hierarchy, 35% say ICT is just delivering providing infrastructure and applications but concentrating on delivering established services without improvements. 40% reckon ICT is improving helping make specific business process more efficient and effective.
In nearly half (47%) of the large organizations surveyed, ICT is perceived to be delivering infrastructure, applications and databases as well as established services, but in only 16% is it perceived as innovating and in even less (9%) as differentiating.
Small and medium-sized organizations are more likely to rely on ICT to differentiate them in markets against their larger competitors (the 3rd level on the model), but a higher proportion of larger organizations (16%) have ICT contributing at the 4th level of the model (innovating). 45% of small organizations use ICT merely to improve specific business processes rather than in a more transformational way. However, these organizations also plan to ramp up their external ICT spending, indicating they intend to drive change and competitiveness through increased ICT investment (See ICT Budgets). ALL <100 11% 16% 45% 27% 100-499 13% 15% 35% 38% 500 + 16% 9% 28% 47% Not Discl. 16% 8% 42% 34%
No surprise that the CIO is the executive most likely to be proactively driving ICT-led innovation in the organization (34% say the CIO does this to a great extent, and 27% say a lot). Some readers may be surprised the CEO is the second most involved executive in driving ICTled innovation (25% say the CEO does this to a great extent, and 22% say a lot). This may contrast with the received wisdom that the CMO is today a leading player in driving ICT, and is indeed starting to take over some ICT budgets. In fact, the CMO is less influential in Asia with businesses saying the COO, Customer Service Leader and Sales director are more active in ICT innovations than is the CMO.
Organizations where the CEO is proactively driving ICT-led change are almost twice as likely to report that their business is leveraging ICT at the highest level (innovating) in a four-level hierarchy. 20% of such businesses say the role of ICT is innovating, compared to just 12% of businesses where the CEO is not proactively involved. The chart shows the level at which ICT contributes to an organization for two types of businesses those where the CEO is proactively driving ICT-led change a lot or to a great extent compared to businesses where thats not the case.
Organizations where the CEO is proactively driving ICT-led change are much more likely to be performing better than those where the CEO is not so involved. 33% of such businesses say theyre significantly outperforming industry peers, compared to only 19% of other businesses where business success is mostly mediocre.
Organizations where a minimum of 3 CXOs proactively drive ICT-led change are also more likely to report theyre leveraging ICT at the highest level (Innovating) in a four-level hierarchy. 20% of such businesses say the role of ICT is innovating, compared to 16% of businesses where 3 CXOs are not proactively involved. Organizations with three or more CXOs proactively driving ICT-led change are also more likely to be at the third level (differentiating). This leads us to conclude that organizations in which ICT appears to be performing well to its own metrics (for example, service measures) need to think more broadly about how ICT is performing in driving business success.
ICT Budgets
ICT external spending in 2012
44% of respondents report ICT external spending (i.e. not including ICT staff salaries and internal costs) as US$ 99K or less in the past financial year). This reflects the spread of organization sizes in Asia, and in the sample for this study.
16% had external spending of US$ 100K to $999K, and 12% spent between US$1m and $49m. 5% of respondents had external budgets of US$50m and above, while 23% of respondents did not know their companys overall ICT external budgets.
On average, respondents say external ICT spending will increase in 2013 by 23% compared to 2012. The percentage increases will be smallest in larger organizations (those with 500+ staff will have 19% increases) and largest in small businesses (23% for businesses with less than 100 staff).
Respondents say their external ICT spending increases are more widespread in 2013, compared to 2012, than they were in the 2012 study - compared to 2011 (see chart over).
More than two-thirds (67%) report planned spending increases of 10% or more. 37% will get 20% or more. Only 9% will have reduced external spending in 2013.
Business Profile
The competitive positioning of respondent businesses
There is possibly a misperception among the respondents over the competitive positioning of their organizations. Half say they are outperforming, and yet a third more say they are on a par with their peers. They cant all be right, although the imbalance in the answers is also partly due to the nature of the sample where more of the successful businesses have probably responded (because they are keen to see how they compare to their peers).
One-half of respondents say theyre ahead of the competition 26% are significantly outperforming industry peers and 24% are slightly outperforming. Just over one-third (36%) say their performance is about the same as peers 14% say theyre underperforming either slightly (9%) or significantly (5%) In reality, more organizations may be underperforming than either realise or admit here. Their failure to accurately gauge this must be a risk factor for their businesses as it could be read to indicate a degree of complacency about their relative performance
63% of large organizations say they are outperforming their peers and another 28% say they are on a par with their peers
Small and medium sized organizations are rather more critical of their own performance than large ones. ALL <100 15% 31% 38% 9% 7% 100-499 18% 30% 43% 10% 0% 500 + 16% 47% 28% 6% 3% Not discl. 30% 20% 35% 9% 6%
Significantly outperforming Slightly outperforming Same as industry peers Slightly underperforming Significantly underperforming
Annual revenues
The revenues of respondent businesses span a wide spectrum.
24% of respondents have revenues above US$ 20m (9% are above US$ 1bn). In the middle range, 21% have annual revenues between US$ 1m to $19m. Reflecting the distribution of businesses in Asian economies, 30% have revenues of less than US$ 1m.
Datacentre
Role with responsibility for Datacentre
CIOs and CTOs hold the keys Senior IT Management (e.g. CIOs, CTOs and IT Manager) have responsibility for datacenter in 52% of organizations, and IT infrastructure staff hold that role in 23% of businesses. Executive management and department heads together hold sway over the datacentre in 7% of companies. These are typically C-level executives of smaller firms.
Extent of virtualisation
Mobile devices have most room to be virtualised While increasing numbers of Asian businesses are virtualizing datacenter components, that doesnt mean they have virtualized all their hardware. On average, businesses have virtualized 41% of their server environment, 38% of storage and 34% of their network infrastructure. The segment which received the least attention is tablets/smartphones with only 23% of firms having virtualized those devices. That will most likely increase with the BYOD trend becoming more prevalent. Allowing employees to do so is increasingly seen as a way to retain talent.
Cloud
Role with responsibility for private cloud
Senior IT management have biggest say in private cloud Senior IT Management own private cloud in the majority of organizations (55%), while in 18% of businesses the responsibility sits with an IT Infrastructure role. In 10% of organizations senior management (i.e. C-level staff) hold responsibility. Thats typically in firms with fewer than 100 employees.
Between one-fifth and one-third of organizations are doing a Cloud project this year. This includes businesses that have a project underway and are continuing the implementation in 2013, and businesses that are starting a project sometime between January and December 2013). 2014 is the year when cloud becomes mainstream. By December 2014, 69% will have implemented private cloud, and just under 50% will have adopted SaaS, IaaS and Hybrid models.
IT Security
Responsibility falls on senior IT management With the security landscape increasingly complex, organizations have tasked their senior IT management with ultimate responsibility for the IT security portfolio. Senior IT Management (specifically CIOs, CTOs and their direct reports) have responsibility for IT Security in one-half of organizations. 24% give the responsibility to Executive IT Management (CIOs, CTOSs), 20% to the IT Department manager, and 3% to each of IT Consultant and Project Management. Some 28% of organizations believe their security posture is closely linked to infrastructure, assigning responsibility in this area to their IT infrastructure staff. In 11% of businesses IT security lies in the hands of a security compliance/administrator/manager. This is more likely in larger companies 15.3% of businesses with 500 plus staff do so compared to 8.6% of businesses with less than 100 staff. For 7% of respondents, senior management (i.e. a C-level staff member) hold responsibility for the company's IT security well-being in 4% its the CEO, CFO etc, and in 3% the department head/director.
This finding is heartening since industry watchers recently mentioned in a ZDNet report that Asian companies are generally unprepared for cyber attacks compared to their American counterparts due to a lack of awareness from senior management. They say it will take at least 10 years before Asian companies catch up with the U.S. in terms of cyber security readiness partly due to lower awareness.
Formalized security policies still not a business norm Despite increasingly sophisticated threats and rising adoption of bring-your-own-device (BYOD) in the workplace, 32% of organizations in the region still have not established proper security policies to safeguard their company's IT infrastructure. Also, a majority do not have ISO 27001 certification for Information Security Management System. One-third of businesses dont have a formal security policy Most companies (68%) have a formal IT security policy in place. However, almost one-third (32%) of organizations do not have a formal, documented security policy. These businesses risk the theft of important company data, and also are putting their stakeholders (customers, suppliers, etc.) in harm's way. Establishing formal security policies is especially pertinent in the BYOD era where more employees are now using their personal devices to carry out work-related tasks and access the corporate network. Security policies should include guidelines on what kinds of apps are off-limits, which devices the company is willing to support, and maintaining security patches.
Only a few organizations have ISO 27001 security certification Only 20% of organizations have ISO 27001 certification for Information Security Management System (ISMS), and 14% are currently working on acquiring this certification. Two-thirds (66%) of businesses dont have ISO 27001 certification.
It's perhaps comforting to know while not every company has formalized security policies, many indicate plans to increase the spending on IT security this year. Mid-size and smaller businesses are making larger IT security budget increases, which is catch-up activity on the larger organizations. Overall, respondents say their external spending on IT security will increase by 21% this year compared to 2012. Mid sized businesses (100 to 499 staff) on average will have the largest percentage increases at 25%. The average spending increase is lowest (18%) among larger organizations (500+ staff).
Companies are looking to protect the network as their key security focus, which is in line with advice commonly dished out by IT security vendors. However, with the rising adoption of BYOD, some believe attention should also be given to protecting employees' mobile devices. Increasingly so, it will be necessary to protect both the device and network, along with enforcing user policies, to keep the corporate infrastructure and data safe. Almost one-third of businesses say traditional network/perimeter security is their most important IT security initiative this year despite the range of new security challenges they face. Reflecting the widespread adoption of virtualisation, one-quarter of organizations say security for virtualised environments is their most important focus. The emergence of mobility and BYOD are reflected in the 16% who say security for mobile devices is their most important IT security focus in 2013. Other businesses (14%) are giving attention to cloud security, specifically private and hybrid cloud architectures. Another 7% are putting their security focus on public clouds.
Security initiatives are mostly undertaken as part of the company's aim to beef up the overall ICT infrastructure. Others, though, indicate their security projects are carried out to boost sales. Some 37% of respondents say improving security of the ICT environment is the key objective for deploying their most important IT Security project. 13% say increasing sales is a key objective. That may appear a rather surprising answer, but it likely refers to improving the security of online transactions with customers an outcome that will increase customer confidence and consequently sales. Businesses are also looking for cost efficiencies in their security implementations.
Perimeter security and security for private/hybrid cloud most widely deployed
While the majority have either deployed or are currently deploying network security, fewer have done likewise to secure their cloud infrastructure thus far. However, over one-half of organizations with private and public cloud have a cloud security implementation in progress. The majority of businesses (62%) have implemented or partly implemented (24%) traditional network/perimeter security. But 14% mostly smaller businesses - have not yet done so (22% of businesses with <100 staff have not implemented). 30% of organizations that use private/hybrid cloud have deployed security capabilities, and 51% are in the process of implementing security for their private/hybrid cloud. Thats the same proportion of businesses implementing security for public cloud. There is also activity in implementing security for those with virtualized environments. 28% have already implemented and 39% have partly implemented or have a project in progress. For those using mobile computing, 25% have implemented mobile device management, and 40% are implementing a project, leaving 35% yet to do so. This is somewhat worrying amid the increasing BYOD trend. As more employees use their personal mobile devices to access corporate data and network, companies can ill-afford to neglect the need for mobile security tools.
Analytics
Role with responsibility for Analytics
Data intelligence goes to the top Much has been said about analytics and big data and their potential to provide richer insights into customers, markets and the general business environment. Small wonder then senior IT executives have been tasked to oversee their company's data analytics. Senior IT Management have responsibility for analytics/big data in 50% of organizations. IT Infrastructure staff have responsibility in 20% of organizations, and senior management in 9%. In 9% of businesses, IT development roles are responsible for analytics/big data.
It is clear that big data analytics aren't just for large enterprises. Software vendors including Intuit, SAS, IBM and Oracle all offer services that target small and midsize businesses. Market estimates put global spending on big data at US$34 billion this year, up from US$28 billion in 2012.
Industry analysts are expecting focus on business analytics to grow, and software vendors also are upping their play in the business analytics space. IBM, for instance, has unveiled plans to set up a business analytics innovation centre in Thailand which it says will offer high-value analytics products to local customers and those in the Southeast Asian region. The rise of social networks in Asia such as China's Sina Weibo also has prompted the need for multilingual analytics and native-language data processing capabilities. Salesforce.com, for example, has said it is focusing heavily on multilingual analytic tools and recently included 20 analytics service providers to its Marketing Cloud platform which will offer native language analytic tools.
Networking / Communications
Role with responsibility for Network / communications
Senior IT people own the network
Senior IT Management are responsible for networking and communications in 46 percent of organizations surveyed, followed by IT infrastructure (31%) and, senior management (7%).
The low priority put on Telepresence supports recent market analysis. According to
Business computing continues to rely on Microsofts operating systems for the desktop/laptop. 95% of businesses say their primary operating systems is from Microsoft, with 61% using Windows 7. Windows XP is still the main operating system in 27% of businesses, while Windows 8 has made limited headway since its launch in late 2012. It is not surprising that only 5 percent of organizations are using Microsoft Windows 8, which was only launched in the latter half of 2012. Windows 8 has not been well received either by consumers or enterprises. Its touch version is more popular among users compared to its desktop version. Even when touch versions are used in organizations, it is generally in roles such as sales, which are not desk bound. Linux (3%) and Apple (2%) predominate in very few organizations. The popularity of Linux over Windows Vista and Apple OS X could also be due to its operating systems being used in Nexus 7, which has been adopted by some businesses.
Respondent Demographics
Respondent Location