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Cloud-Based Solutions and Remote Managed IT Services to Lead Asia-Pacific SMB ICT Spending Growth in 2011

More SMBs in this region are looking at solutions that take advantage of the Cloud infrastructure to achieve lower cost of ownership and exploring the benefits of outsourcing through RMITS. The economic recession in 2009/2010 has accelerated the adoption growth of Cloud services and RMITS. Firms explored technology that enabled minimum investment so as to maintain better cash flow management during the crisis. At the same time, remote managed IT services provided the environment for SMBs to avoid unnecessary headcount costs for support-related services such as PC, storage and server support.

"SMBs in countries with strong connectivity and Internet infrastructure benefit most from SaaS-based solutions and RMIT services," says Singapore-based Daniel Sim, Director of Strategic Engagements at AMI-Partners. "Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) SMBs today rely on the Internet as their primary mode of communications with customers and partners across different markets. A good Internet infrastructure is key to rapid adoption of Cloud-based solutions and RMITS. Technology vendors offering cloud-based solutions and RMITS will find it necessary to work with infrastructure service providers even more now than before to explore go-to-market approaches in reaching out to these SMBs."

Globally, SMBs adopt IT in 3 stages-from building infrastructure solutions to deploying connectivity solutions and advanced IT solutions for extending their business reach with their customers and business partners. AMI Intelligence suggests Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) SMBs currently in Wave II of ICT adoption are the best segment for cloud-based solutions and RMITS vendors to target. Wave II SMBs are currently looking at technology that enables them to connect their enterprise to enhance competitiveness. Of the top 10 ICT spending adoption in the region, at least 6 of these Cloud-based solutions and RMITS are technology relating to connecting the enterprise. AMI's 3 Waves of ICT Adoption defines Wave I as building the basic infrastructure, Wave II as connecting the enterprise and Wave III as extending the enterprise.

2011 will see more of these SMBs continuing to be educated regarding how "as-a-service" would impact their businesses in the long run. These SMBs will also weigh the cost of ICT investments in light of service versus ownership. As these SMBs' mindsets evolve regarding ICT investments, technology vendors need also be reminded that Asia-Pacific SMBs will look at investments in a more accountable and transparent manner. This factor makes these SMBs more cautious and at the same time more informed. Vendors need to balance their go-to-market approach with the right message, the right delivery model and the right solutions for the right target segment.

Related Studies

AMI-Partners' 2010-2011 SMB State of the Cloud Market Overview in countries such as Australia / New Zealand, China, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Thailand are seeing a confluence of multiple factors that are giving cloud adoption stronger momentum. Key among these is the growing ubiquity of broadband and Smartphones which has raised the level of collaboration and real-time communications. The cloud promises to reshape the ICT industry and traditional routes to market, including positioning communications services providers as a potential one-stop shop for all ICT.

For more information about this study, AMI-Partners, or our global SMB research, call 212-944-5100, e-mail ask_ami@ami-partners.com or visit the AMI Web site at www.ami-partners.com.

About Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc.

AMI-Partners specializes in IT, Internet, telecommunications and business services strategy, venture capital, and actionable market intelligence - focusing on global small and medium business (SMB) enterprises. The AMI-Partners mission is to empower clients for success with the highest-quality data, business planning and go-to-market solutions. AMI was founded in 1996. Since its inception, the firm has built a world-class management team, each with ten to fifteen years' experience in IT, telecom, online communications or multimedia.

AMI-Partners has helped shape the go-to-market SMB strategies of more than 150 leading IT, Internet, telecommunications and business services companies. The firm is well known for its IT and Internet adoption-based segmentation of the SMB markets; its annual retainership services based on global SMB tracking surveys in more than 30 countries; and its proprietary database of SMBs and SMB channel partners in the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific. The firm invests significantly in collecting survey-based information from several thousand SMBs annually, and is considered the premier source for global SMB trends and analysis.

Media:
Quoted Analyst:
Daniel Sim, (65) 6220 5535
dsim@ami-partners.com
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