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A new end-user study by IDC entitled "Software Adoption Plans in Asia Pacific (excluding Japan): Results from IDC’s Continuum Study 2009", reveals that despite the tough economic climate, more than 30% of Asia Pacific companies have intentions to increase their spending on software while only 6.1% intend to reduce their investments in this area over the next 18 months. In addition, the majority of the companies polled are still keen to maintain their investment budget on software solutions.

“The results of our study were encouraging. Many companies whom we interviewed were particularly interested in solutions that can play an integral role in improving performance and automation efficiency within the infrastructure environment,” says Wilvin Chee, research director, Asia Pacific Software Research at IDC. (See Figure 1)

He adds, “Across the board, the increase in infrastructure management and database software spending could see some reallocation of budget away from business applications and middleware solutions. However, countries such as India, PRC, Indonesia, and Vietnam are expected to see a continued surge in investments for customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource management (ERM) applications.”

While the on-premise subscription model still remains the dominant option for most companies in the region due to better control over reliability and security, the survey found that more companies have significantly warmed up to the idea of alternate models such as software-as-a-service (SaaS) or open source. An average of 16.2% of respondents indicated that they are likely to adopt SaaS model for their new (or increased) deployment in the next 18 months, compared to just 2.6% in a similar survey conducted a year ago. 

Chee adds, “We believe that better product values and offerings, coupled with the current economic pressure, are the major reasons driving more companies to consider this pay-per-use option. Open source is also gaining traction, particularly in countries like Australia and PRC, where companies are attracted to its many benefits such as low upfront investments, no lock-in period, and access to code modifications.”

Although cost considerations remain the prime factor when making decisions on software investments, the study reveals that companies are not so tolerant towards poor support services or complex product features. 

Ridhi Sawhney, market analyst, Asia Pacific Enterprise Applications Research at IDC recommends, “While it is vital to focus on more-for-less or more-bang-for-the-buck campaigns during these turbulent times, IDC encourages software vendors to step up efforts to improve their partner delivery and support models. Focusing on other important factors outside cost will enable these vendors to differentiate themselves from the competition.”