NEWS: Businesses, consumers to lead IT spending

KUALA LUMPUR: Corporate and consumer spending on IT products and services in Malaysia will continue to make up for the shortfall in government spending in that segment this year, said industry researcher IDC.

Maggie Tan, associate research director at IDC Asean, said businesses and consumers spent US$3.92bil (RM12.6bil) on information technology products and services last year.

In comparison, the Government’s IT spending totalled US$523.1mil (RM1.67bil) in the same period.

Tan was speaking at IDC’s Asean Directions 2010 conference here, an annual event.

She said this corporate and consumer spending will continue to exceed the government spending this year.

Local consumers, she predicted, will continue to buy portable computers and other devices, which accounted for US$1.69bil (RM5.42bil) of the total spending last year.

“It’s not just about people buying laptops with Windows 7; Malaysian consumers feel they must always own the latest and most stylish products,” she said.

As for the corporate sector, businesses will continue to spend on cloud-computing services this year, she said without specifying which sectors.

The economic dip last year made local companies look for cost savings and these organisations are finding that cloud computing is the way to go, according to IDC.

This year’s conference is themed Capitalising on the Recovery: Building the Foundation for the Intelligent Economy.

According to Tan, the economic recovery has thrust South-East Asian markets back into the spotlight this year. “There is opportunity for Malaysian companies to market their software and services to other countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam,” she said.