In partnership with KPMG India, the Asian-Oceanian Computing Industry Organization (ASOCIO) today launched a new report into the future of the regional IT services industry: Asia-Oceania Vision 2020: Enabling IT Leadership through Collaboration.
The report was launched at the Australian Information Industry Association’s Asia Pacific Digital Innovation Summit in Melbourne.
The report provides a clear analysis of current and projected IT services and outsourcing markets across the Asia Pacific, delivering some powerful conclusions.
Asia-Oceania is set to become the largest regional economy in the world by 2020, rising from 35 to 43 percent of global GDP and increasing their share of world exports from 27 to 35 percent.
ICT will be critical to this rise to dominance in the world economy. Combined, Asia Pacific economies have the opportunity to deliver 75 percent of the world’s information technology demands over the next decade.
“The key to accelerating the realisation of the growth opportunities available to individual economies and the national ICT industries in the region will be proactive collaboration,” said ASOCIO President Ashank Desai.
“ASOCIO can play a major role by enabling member economies to aggressively collaborate to achieve their 2020 vision,” Mr Desai said.
“The traditional areas of collaboration – such as trade in hardware and software – are the tip of the iceberg,” said Kumar Parakala, Head of IT Advisory at KPMG India and Chairman of the Australian Computer Society National Board.
“The real long term benefits will come from collaboration between regional technology players in a way that is not yet well developed in the marketplace – in areas such as knowledge sharing to strategic acquisitions,” continued Mr Parakala.
This will require a new development approach and innovative thinking, facilitated by extensive and constructive use of ICT, with each economy adopting specialised roles to draw on collective opportunities that will far exceed those available in isolation.
Collaboration can play a key role, helping countries in the region build on collective strengths and overcome shortcomings mutually, to grow faster than they would expect to grow in isolation.
Mature economies will have the largest role to play – Australia will be an important player in the future of the region, and ICT will have an equally significant role in the future of Australia.
The Vision 2020 report identifies the specific challenges that Australia must address in order to realise the benefits on offer, and can be found online along with an Executive Summary.