IDC Taiwan Predicts Top-10 ICT Developments for 2011

IDC Taiwan, the local subsidiary of the global media of market intelligence, advisory services and events for the information technology (IT), telecom, and consumer technology markets, recently publicized at a press conference its top-10 predictions for the information and communication technology (ICT) industry in Taiwan for 2011.

Taiwan's ICT market has been gradually recovering since 2010 due to the improving domestic economy, and most corporate operations have achieved clear improvements, meaning private ICT operators are expected to continue to carry on their momentum amid market changes, says IDC Taiwan.

Top-10 Predictions

1. Taiwan's ICT spending in 2011 is expected to reach US$6.76 billion, US$4.55 billion of which on hardware, US$866 million on software, and US$1.35 billion on information services, all of which marks a growth of 6.1% year-on-year (YoY), with enterprises advised to introduce, apply new technologies to cope with market challenges.


To handle operational growth and technological changes, IDC Taiwan forecasts local enterprises will continue to increase ICT spending to sharpen competitiveness in response to the rapid-changing market.


2. Taiwanese makers will still target investing in cloud computing in 2011, with private-cloud deployments to enhance the automation management and system-integration markets.
   
   Cloud computing service platform has become an emerging application globally, driving local ICT companies to accelerate modifying corporate structures. In 2011 many private-sector companies will focus on constructing private clouds and invest more resources in the construction, distribution, monitoring, evaluation, and safety of automation and workload management, says IDC Taiwan.
   
   In 2011 the formation of the cloud computing services in Taiwan will introduce cloud-computing business-process-as-a-service into various industries, hence speeding usage of technology platforms to push cloud-computing services. Building private clouds will proceed simultaneously with public clouds, with virtualization techniques to integrate both modes to change the corporate building of conventional IT-infrastructure.



3. The rise of community application service will accelerate the transformation of IT hardware.
   
   The rise of community media, enterprise-IT is inevitably affected by trends. The malware from social network sites, employee productivity and data security issues force enterprises to set up IT policies. Increasingly more enterprises, however, have begun embracing social network sites to strengthen communications with consumers or cooperative partners, and utilize such means to analyze customer information through their own Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems.
   
   The rise of social network applications are not only changing business application models, but also pushing another wave of high growth in the mobile-device market. Increasingly more companies are expected to launch mobile devices with built-in functions to real-time update social network communities' information and match such new applications.
   
   Consumer demands for social network community—compatibles functions—will drive sales of smartphones, tablet PCs, notebook PCs etc.


FTTH (Fiber to the Home) will drive further growth of telecom value-added services.

Taiwanese telecom companies have been aggressively launching new value-added services due to the saturated traditional voice telecom market, with the FTTH to create lucrative business opportunities and motivate the telecom service market to introduce more diversified services. Players in telecom-service market are expected to gradually expand business scopes to cover HDTV, VOD (video on demand), lifestyle information services (consumption information platform, information, financial, security surveillance, healthcare monitoring etc.), software marketplace (a marketplace providing application software under cloud-computing), or “hotspots” at convenience stores, motivating consumers to use Wi-Fi at fixed points.





4. Smartphone penetration will surge. Coupled with the rapid development of product technologies and applications, increasingly more consumers now utilize smartphones to handle daily chores and business plans. The demand for a handset is also evolving from traditional voice compunction to real-time information search and delivery, while smartphones are expected to offer better computing and more applications.
   
   Mid/lower-end smartphones are expected to be launched to offer more options to consumers, with the smartphone penetration in Taiwan to exceed 30% in 2011.






5. Next-generation multimedia mobile devices will create new business opportunities but more competition.
   
   The growing popularization of social network communities and mobile Internet access has turned media tablets into the ITC star. Such mobile device brings the cloud computing concept ever closer to consumers, and users now can easily operate mobile terminals through seamless Internet environments. Cloud computing will create increasingly more applications and connections, while product sustainability will depend on device makers' ability to build products with more applications and create more efficient, easier operating modes.
   
   The emergence of media tablets accelerates and intensifies competition between different industries and changes industrial environments, with the new sector drawing into the market more makers of PCs, cellphones, e-books, consumer-electronic products, TVs etc.



6. Cloud computing, mobile application, and MPS (Managed Print Service) will push the printing market into a new era.
   
   Cloud computing and mobile application has formally entered the printing market. In the future, remote printing and real-time printing services will be increasingly popular, with Taiwan's printing market expected to discard traditional fixed- and single-point service modes, enabling users to print via handsets, tablet PCs and other mobile devices.
   
   An increasing number of MPS providers are expected to enter the sector to maintain the growth of the printing market.



7. Rapid and popular business analytics will help enterprises compete. The uncertain business climate is driving local enterprises to strengthen forecast analytic ability to better control risks, segregate customers, and manage products and inventories, as well as focus on investing in business analytic solutions as IT investment.



8. New rules and regulations will motivate enterprises to raise investment in information security solutions.
   
   Information security is a hot issue in Taiwan's ICT industry, especially considering the increasing popularity of cloud computing and various mobile devices that inevitably divert some focus to information security. This year will be fruitful for Taiwan's information-security solution market, with technological advancement and ICT infrastructural change to demand multifunctional solutions.



9. ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) upgrading and weed-out continue in 2011. Increasingly more enterprises in Taiwan see the necessity of IT-related investments, hence driving continual ERP upgrading and demand for renewal.