This year promises to be more exciting, especially for corporate workers as the Philippines ICT sector plans to roll out more innovative enterprise and user-based services and products.
The e-empowered employee (EEE) is expected to fuel ICT spending and growth in the Asia Pacific region this year. This is the predication made by research firm International Data Corp.
For 2006, IDC predicts that spending on telecommunications services will grow at 8 percent, exceeding US$175 billion for Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan). IT spending in APEJ will grow at 9 percent to exceed $110 billion, with China and India accounting for 64 percent of the region's incremental market value.
According to IDC, the economic outlook for 2006 is healthy, despite continued global political, health, and environmental uncertainties. 'This, combined with the relentless pursuit of enterprises and their employees to be more competitive, bodes well for the ICT industry in the region,' said Eva Au, managing director for IDC Asia Pacific.
Au said that the e-empowered employee is increasingly able to harness technology to be more productive and responsive. 'Work takes place anywhere, anytime, anyplace. It's moving out of the traditional workstation into homes, hotels, airport lounges, and taxis. Workspace boundaries are diminishing as the employee is no longer tied to an office location. Nine-to-five work hours make way for 24/7 operations,' said Au. She added that technology roadmaps will not only be determined by how they can be applied to enhance productivity, but also how they can support an always-connected, knowledge-driven, and rapidly shrinking global economic society.
'Successful companies will be those which can rise to the challenge and capitalize on the technology opportunities further enabled by the e-empowered employee -- coming up with innovative strategies and delivery models that are adapted to market dynamics and optimizing the employee's contribution to the organization's value chain. It has direct impact on organizational efficiency, access to real-time information, quicker time-to-market, and the ability of businesses to react to dynamic market conditions,' said Au.
'Improved technology applications, increased commuting costs and market conditions will find corporations more willing to extend the benefit of working remotely to employees this coming next year. This option is most likely to increase the loyalty of the workforce and possibly lower overhead costs,' said Peter Tan, president of technology provider firm Fujitsu Philippines Inc.
He added that a number of local companies, especially those in sales and logistics, are rolling out cell phone devices to their field workforces.
The key benefit would be to gain increased visibility into its operations and to be able to immediately pass information about pickups and deliveries to customers as well as give sales representatives a tool that could act as order entry devices. With orders being sent as soon as a sale is made, the company's inventory is updated immediately.
IDC also noted that the market for converged mobile devices -- handheld units with both voice and data capabilities -- are expected to significantly rise this year.
'Aside from mobile computing, more companies are also looking into acquiring and successfully deploying business intelligence systems as corporate executives and employees start to demand immediate and accurate information,' said Rudy Jacob, data center manager of Robinson's Department Store.
Business intelligence systems allow companies to pull together and analyze information from disparate operations, providing the data managers need to make decisions.
'The technology, which encompasses all sorts of data reporting and analysis tools, has been around for years. But its standing is growing. Deploying business intelligence systems is now one of the top priorities of corporations.'
Despite the increase in IT spending, budget constraints also encourage various local firms to look into applications that will enable them to save on costs.
'A wider array of open source applications for end users is increasing the validity and value of this model,' said Ramon Licauco, management information systems manager of National Bookstore.
Running counter to the traditional software business model based on IP, research firm Gartner also sees open source software (OSS) competing directly with commercial software in many segments of the enterprise market and taking on an expanded role in the small-to-medium business sector. With OSS adoption rising rapidly, Gartner believes that by 2010 it will account for 20 percent of the global software market, displacing over $100 billion in revenues from traditional software vendors.
Gaming is always up there in any top 10 tech list, whether it be new trends such as mobile gaming, or the next-generation consoles being developed by Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo.
According to recent reports from global research company CEA, the launch of next-generation consoles from these firms last 2005 and early 2006 will increase their revenues by approximately 18 percent.
On-demand game services offered via cable, satellite, and broadband TV is likely to be the next big thing and there is also an opportunity for the next-generation consoles to become the hub for a digital home.
Incorporating online game play with HD (high-definition) movie playback and connectivity to PCs, digital cameras and other devices, the games console could take center stage in the living room, the study suggests.
However, a format war between the competing standards of Blu-Ray Disc and HD DVD could hamper this development.
Meanwhile, Sony Philippines is positive that sales of flat panel TVs such as plasma and LCD will continue to rise, as people continue to be willing to pay a little more for a TV set with better picture quality.
'Technologies such as surface conduction electron emitter (SED) and organic light emitting diodes (OLED) will most likely be launched in the near future, offering even better picture quality,' said Hiroaki Kobayashi, president and managing director of Sony Philippines
On the other hand, do-it-yourself content creation or devices to help users create their own content is already a budding market in the Philippines. Devices such as digital cameras, camcorders, audio players, software, and printers have all fuelled this DIY revolution. Creating a new breed of photographers, filmmakers, musicians and artists, the digital home studio market is likely to thrive in the coming years.
After five years, Windows XP is beginning to show its age. Thus, Microsoft plans to introduce Windows Vista by the end of 2006. Vista will offer improvements on XP in a number of areas.
Improved security features and easier network deployment should make users happy. Microsoft also claims Vista is more stable than Windows XP. Aside from having an improved user interface, the company says the new operating system will make finding stuff on one's hard drive easier; file sharing is also supposed to be better.
As global outsourcing evolves to 'multisourcing' based on utility-style IT services, components for composite application in an SOA (Service-Oriented Architecture) environment can come from external service providers as well as in-house sources.
'Organizations that figure out how to do multisourcing will win,' said Puneet Pushkarna, managing director of BPO firm Headstrong.
Gartner also predicts that through 2008 more than 50 percent of new outsourcing deals will have an IT utility services component.
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) service providers are also predicted to be big winners moving forward. According to Gartner's forecast, BPO service providers will reap around $11 billion from insurance companies by 2008 as insurers update their legacy systems.