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XMG Offers 10 Predictions for 2011

By David Sims, TMCnet Contributing Editor

XMG Global, an ICT research and advisory firm, has revealed its 2011 predictions for the Asia-Pacific region.

Top concerns and priorities of Asia Pacific CIOs: Generally speaking, 2011 will be a year for CIOs to sense and respond, and face the year of convergence head on. Top priorities of ICT executives heading into 2011 include CIO leadership, being able to deliver on project commitments; anticipate long-term game changing technology, and cloud computing, understanding how cloud computing as a strategic inflection point away from building in-house legacy infrastructure.

Talent shortage: Employee retention challenges, minding the Gen gap through HR innovation. With the evolution of globalization much more profound on post-recession, employee retention will be one of the biggest challenges in 2011.

Innovation is service provider and captive's newest game plan: The global outsourcing and offshore industry is heading toward innovation as the slippery slopes to economic recovery sets a new standard for normalcy in which cost savings and continuous business improvement becomes top of mind. XMG estimates the global outsourcing market to bring in $485.26 billion revenue in 2011. Perennial leader India will be strongly challenged by maturing offshoring destinations such as China and the Philippines.

Mobile market nearing maturity; broadband market poised for growth: The global mobile market is nearing maturity. Led by China, India and Indonesia, Asia-Pacific mobile market still show signs of headroom growth in the next three years.

Bright spot amongst the clouds: Based on the 2010 XMG Global study on cloud adoption, the number of organizations using cloud computing has already doubled since 2007 and estimates are that it will grow by 26 percent CAGR from 2010 thru 2012 -- roughly 5 times the rate of the IT industry -- a rare bright spot in the IT services sector.

Social network converges with business: Social media applications continue to gain momentum. It is not a fad. Popular applications such as Facebook (News - Alert), Twitter and LinkedIn have gained popularity and widespread usage. 2011 will be marked as a year when organizations increase their social business footprint. We believe the use of social platforms by small and medium-sized enterprises will increase in Asia Pacific, with more than 30 percent are expected to use social networks for promotional purposes by end of 2011.

Consumerization and social features of IT will continue to dominate market uptake as user-centricity of gadgets and mobile devices reach new levels: 2010 saw the rise of the smartphones, almost taking it from gadget to mainstream business tool. Driven by the wealth of applications available, 2011 will see that trend continue. Although Apple (News - Alert) is making inroads, RIM's Blackberry still leads this space and will continue thru 2011.

Start of a new beginning for next generation of application and computing devices: Although global sales of PCs in 2010 are up 14 percent over 2009, this is a lower growth forecast due to the growing impact of netbooks, thin clients and the launch of 30 varieties of tablet devices following the success of the iPad. The PC is not going away and XMG expect growth will continue at same levels in 2011. Over the next 3 years, mobile devices will make big inroads into corporate computing as applications become available.

Green IT finally taking foothold: The series of economic crises in recent years have left the Asia Pacific region clamoring for green IT practices and solutions. Given ICT's exponentially growing carbon footprint, there has been heightened awareness for change in the past two years.

E-government will maintain momentum to deliver an electronic tomorrow: As ICT infrastructure mature in several Asian countries, governments will continue using the internet and public kiosks to deliver public services.