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Frost & Sullivan: On-demand (Software) in Demand

Announcement posted by Frost & Sullivan 28 Feb 2007

The Asia-Pacific on-demand software market, which is in its early stages of growth, is likely to see explosive uptake over the next three years. Much of this growth will result from the increasing demand from SMEs. Some large enterprises are also expected to make that gradual shift towards hosted applications.

Software vendors will however need to address concerns of infrastructural limitations, data security issues, and provide the level of confidence around reliability, availability and quality of service.

New analysis from global growth consulting company, Frost & Sullivan (www.ITservices.frost.com), Asia Pacific On-demand Software Market, reveals that revenues in this market - covering 12 major Asia-Pacific countries ex-Japan - totaled US$70.3 million in 2006, and is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 27.1 per cent (2006-2009), reaching a market size of US$144.3 million by end-2009.

On-demand software is a software distribution model where applications are hosted by a vendor or a service provider, and made available to customers over the Internet. Known also as software as a service (SaaS), on-demand applications and hosted applications, the study covers only enterprise applications which include customer relationship management (CRM) software, web conferencing and collaboration software, human resource (HR) applications, finance and accounting software, and other enterprise solutions such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain management (SCM), business intelligence (BI), and product lifecycle management (PLM).

“The rising number of SMEs, and the increasing adoption of software solutions that provide them with a competitive edge is likely to give rise to greater deployments of on-demand software across the region,” notes Subba Iyer, director at Frost & Sullivan. “The advantages of web-based accessibility, cost feasibility, faster implementation cycles, and manageability would appeal to businesses; more so for SMEs.”

CRM software was the dominant solution in 2006, followed by collaboration and HR applicationssoftware. The increasing focus on enhancing customer service and mobility of usage were among the key drivers for the extensive deployments of on-demand CRM software in Asia-Pacific.

Nonetheless, technological and infrastructural limitations, such as inadequate and costly bandwidth in developing countries in Asia-Pacific, remain a major barrier to the adoption of on-demand software solutions. Similarly, security concerns on confidentiality of data and the use of third-party hosting services are likely to hamper the uptake of on-demand software in some countries.

“To address the data security concerns, vendors should invest in their own hosting service, or partner with reliable providers, thereby helping to gain confidence among customers,” says Iyer.

The Asia Pacific On-demand Software Market study is part of the IT Services & Applications subscription. It provides a complete market analysis with market engineering measurements, competitive structure, revenue forecasts, market revenues, application type analysis, vertical analysis, and pricing analysis. In this research service, Frost & Sullivan's expert analysts thoroughly examine the on-demand software market for enterprise applications. Analyst interviews are available to the press.

If you are interested in a virtual brochure, which provides vendors/manufacturers, end users, and other industry participants with an overview of the Asia Pacific On-demand Software Market, then send an e-mail to Sharmin Jassal, Corporate Communications, at sharmin.jassal@frost.com with your full name, company name, title, telephone number, fax number, city, state, country and e-mail address. Upon receipt of the above information, an overview will be sent to you by e-mail.