Skills shortage stress
As the number and complexity of IT projects within APAC rise, the skills shortage is becoming increasingly evident. This is starting to impact the pace and scope of projects being executed by businesses as they look to improve IT capabilities and drive business value.
Ovum expects technology vendors to invest heavily in efforts to drive educational capabilities that align with the technology they provide. This is expected to include closer partnerships with tertiary education providers, certification programs, and direct educational facilities.
Interestingly, Ovum has started to see an increasing number of global delivery networks focused on ‘follow the skills’ rather than just ‘follow the sun’ leading to pockets of technology specification in locations such as Hyderabad and Manila.
IT providers are expected to focus on increasing asset utilization in order to promote overall productivity and reduce the reliance upon labor.
The rise of ‘Optimal Prime’
Ovum has already witnessed the increasing role that ‘prime’ service providers play within enterprises, effectively offering governance capabilities for subsequent technology engagements.
This trend is set to continue as enterprises look for advice in better aligning their business needs with IT investment in multi-source scenarios. Prime vendors are expected to focus on offering ITIL/ITSM style capabilities to enterprises that are struggling with the rapid pace of change within their IT departments.
Composite application creativity
The applications market will continue to grow in APAC in 2011. But Ovum believes enterprises will increasingly look to build composite applications that leverage functionality offered by multiple suites to better support complex business processes. This will be driven in part by budgetary constraints inhibiting investment in new packages. The quest for best-of-breed functionality derived from multiple suites will also play a large part.