A fifth of Asian economies continue to invest in IT

MANILA, Philippines - Although most Asia-based companies are either reducing or freezing investments in information technology amid the current economic downturn, there are still those who continue to invest in IT solutions that can help them increase earnings.

 Research firm International Data Corp.’s Asia- Pacific Advanced Customer Care and Retention (ACCR) 2009 poll of Asia-based companies indicate that about 20 percent of the respondents, especially larger enterprises and those in China, said they will still invest in IT solutions.

The consumer survey was done via the web with 1,102 respondents across five markets – the Philippines, Australia, China, Korea and Singapore. The enterprise poll was also web-based with 656 IT managers and CIOs, and 548 sales and marketing respondents, covering nine Asian markets.

IDC noted that companies focusing on growth are significantly more likely to explore the more advanced areas of customer care. Nearly half of the respondents saw the main value of customer care as being a way to generate revenue, and many are ready to go beyond traditional customer relationship management.

“Companies with growth ambitions despite the current crisis are exploring more advanced options than companies that hope to get through the downturn by cutting costs,” according to Claus Mortensen, principal for IDC Asia/Pacific Emerging Technologies Research Group.

He pointed out that new advanced customer care tools such as customer analytics, customer database management and new web-based tools, are much more on the agenda for these types of companies.

“They tend to appreciate the value of customer targeting and engagement more than companies with a more reactive approach. These solutions can make a huge difference to how companies position themselves for the future and may be the most important IT investment a company can make in today’s economic climate,” he said.

Despite the impact of the economic downturn, IDC’s poll showed that the top business priority of more than half the companies surveyed was to increase earnings over cost control. In fact, less than 25 percent said that they were focusing more on cost reduction. At the same time, nine out of 10 companies said they had increased their focus on the customer because of the economic downturn.

In another ACCR survey focusing on what Asian Generation Y consumers expect from their customer care experiences, the respondents indicated that traditional customer care methods are inadequate. When it came to seeking technical support for IT gadgets, 62 percent said they had gone to someone they knew personally and more than half had sought help on online forums.

“The survey highlighted how important the web has become in how companies connect and engage with consumers,” Claus said. “It also revealed that as many as 20 percent of young Asians actually prefer to seek help in ways that circumvent the companies they bought their products from. This means that companies will need to be more imaginative in how they engage their customers if they want to maintain relationships with their customers”.