APAC firms to up software budget in 2010

Although organizations in Asia Pacific expect to continue to be conservative
with their total IT budgets in 2010, software budgets are expected to increase,
according to a survey released today by Gartner.

The survey showed that organizations in Asia Pacific plan to increase their
software budgets by 4.4 percent on average in 2010, while overall IT budgets
were expected to decline by 3.1 per cent on average. More organizations in Asia
Pacific (38 per cent) expect to increase their software budgets in 2010 than
their overall IT budget (31 per cent).

The average expected increase in software budget of 4.4 per cent is higher
than all other regions surveyed including Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA),
North America and Latin America.

Gartner surveyed 323 IT managers in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, China,
India and Hong Kong, as part of a worldwide survey of 982 respondents, to help
business and IT managers compare their enterprise IT spending with peer
organizations. Respondents were asked whether they expected their 2010 IT budget
to be below, the same or exceed their IT budget for 2009.

India-based respondents were consistently the most optimistic, with the
highest number of respondents intending to increase their IT budget in 2010 (42
percent), followed by China (32 percent). On the other hand, Malaysia-based
respondents remain pessimistic, with the largest number of respondents intending
to decrease their spending (52 per cent), followed by Singapore (48 percent of
respondents). Software is expected to represent the second-largest portion of
the IT budget in most countries, with the exception of India (where software and
hardware spend are roughly equal) and Australia (where spending is notably
higher on IT staff). India is the most aggressive with the highest software
budget allocation (26.9 percent), followed by Singapore (25.8 percent), Malaysia
(24.1 percent) and China (23.1 percent).

When looking at country level software spending, India is the most
optimistic, with the average expected change in software budget of +10 percent.
Australia and Singapore, although considered mature markets, are not
conservative, expecting positive average change in software budget for 2010.

Gartner recommended that software vendors in Asia Pacific continue to build,
fund and invest in sales and marketing, despite economic volatility.