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TOTAL
spending by small and medium businesses (SMBs) in the
Philippines on information and communications technology
(ICT) may hit more than $3 billion this year (P123
billion), up 12 percent over last year.
This was
shown by a study by New York-based Access Markets
International (AMI) Partners Inc. SMBs are companies
with 99 up to 999 employees.
“Spending on telecommunications will take the largest
piece of the pie, while spending on IT computing
comprising personal computers, servers and printers will
contribute to more than 25 percent of the total ICT
spend (sic),” a company statement quoted one of its
analysts, Ruth Garin, who is based in Singapore.
She
said, “SMBs comprise up to 99 percent of all businesses
in the Philippines and [are] significant contributors to
technology spend (sic).”
Garin
added: “Understanding how SMBs behave, their purchase
cycles, and who influence their purchase decisions,
channel preferences and their top investment priorities
would be key to nailing this market.”
The
first priority would be on hardware. “As the first
priority, SMBs’ computing investment will go to
desktops.”
AMI
Partners said that SMB spending on computing is set to
cross $800 million (P32.8 billion) by the end of 2008,
the bulk of it on desktops. “Small businesses or
companies with up to 99 staff will extend this
investment by adding more notebooks to cater to growing
mobile employees while medium businesses will spend more
on servers.”
In its
Information Economy Report 2007-2008, the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) cited the
need for “data on ICT use by businesses in developing
countries …in order to better assess the impact of ICT
policies.”
The
yearly Unctad report released in February, also said:
“National, regional, and international efforts to
improve the availability of data on ICT in order to
assess statistical data on ICT in developing countries,
particularly on the use of ICT by business and on the
ICT sector, are essential so that policymakers can
assess progress in their ICT for development policies.”
Unctad
pinned the responsibility on governments. “[Governments]
can raise awareness among enterprises, particularly SMEs,
on the potential of ICTs for business use” that could
encourage greater competition that “can lower prices,
and this in turn facilitates the adoption of ICT by
lower-income individuals and enterprises.”
AMI
Partners noted that although small businesses and
medium-size businesses behave differently, “both are on
the same footing when it comes to competition....Both
cited strong competition as the topmost challenge for
this year.”
Other
ICT growth areas in the SMB market include
Internet-protocol telephony [voip], which is “expected
to be highest in the mid-market segment,” and security
and storage, which “will see the fastest growth in the
Philippines this year.”
Both
technologies, said Garin, “are expected to register high
annual double-digit growth, in excess of 20 percent.”
She cited increased e-mail volume and use of digital
media as the top drivers for adopting or enhancing
storage infrastructure.
Two more
growth areas in SMB spending on ICT include security
software and business applications. |
