IDC展開Green IT與數碼市場研究活動

IDC Launches Green IT and Digital Marketplace Research Practices as part of its New Emerging Technology Advisory Services (ETAS) Program

October 03, 2007 – Seven years into the new millennium, organizations are realizing that IT does matter a great deal. In an industry largely defined by fast-paced technological innovation, convergence, alliance and acquisitions, organizations need to adapt their ‘traditional’ business models into more agile and flexible practices while sustaining competitive advantage and generating business value. This disruptive nature of the industry means that it is becoming increasingly important for stakeholders to keep abreast of what is potentially ‘The Next Big Thing’ in order to be first to market with new ideas that are financially attractive. To cater to this audience, IDC has established a new program, called the Emerging Technology Advisory Services (ETAS) in Asia/Pacific.

ETAS is helmed by the Emerging Technology Council, which consists of 10 senior IDC analysts and executives and is responsible for the identification of new technologies and trends in the ICT industry. Through a careful selection process, the ETC qualifies these new ideas and tests the products with the target audience/market to determine commercial viability. This process ensures a faster response to the market needs and focuses on emerging new areas.

As IDC kicks off its 2008 financial year in October, the first two key practices under ETAS are launched.

Green IT

With increasing concerns over global warming and climate changes, the focus has turned to the ICT market and the carbon emissions of this industry. It is estimated that IT does as much damage to the environment as the airline industry. IDC estimates that roughly 50 cents (US) is spent on energy for every dollar of computer hardware and this is expected to increase by 54 percent to 71 cents (US) over the next four years.[1] This explains the emergence of ‘Green IT’, defined by IDC as the design, manufacture, deployment and recycling of IT products and related materials in an environmentally responsible manner.
IDC recommends the following actions for end users who are looking to introduce ‘Green IT’ in their organizations:

· Consider the energy efficiency and environmental impact of IT and include these considerations into the IT strategy for your organization


· Adopt a policy-driven and holistic approach that applies the principles of ‘Green IT’ across your entire organization

· Treat a vendor's claim of ‘Green IT’ with caution – the industry has yet to establish standards to define and measure ‘green technologies’

· Monitor the vendor's internal deployment of its ‘green technologies’ in terms of reducing power consumption and increasing capacity in their own data centers & operations.

Digital Marketplace and New Media

The emergence of Web 2.0 with the rising popularity of blogging, social networking and virtual worlds is not a new phenomenon. What is new is the rapid growth of Web 2.0 segments and their impact on our lives as a consumer and, increasingly so, as a business user/IT buyer.

Since the beginning of 2006, IDC has observed a growing number of new start-ups offering a wide variety of services in the digital marketplace. Some of these are niche players while others choose to cater to a broader group of consumer segments. These companies typically operate on low-cost business models and are trying out various ways to monetize their content, applications and services. The amount of investments pouring in from institutional and angel investors are growing especially in the PRC. IDC estimates that there are more than 2,000 Chinese (home-grown) Web 2.0 providers today.

While the consumer segment will continue to dominate and drive the Web 2.0 industry, the enterprise segment is warming up to the possibilities of leveraging these applications to meet the ever-challenging demands of businesses. Enterprise 2.0 will define the beginning of Web 2.0 in the business environment with the initial benefit and value driven by collaboration, customer analytics and targeted smart search applications. New user data mining technologies, search/recommendation engines, and ad and social networks will fundamentally change the way marketing is done by businesses.

Empowered employees have begun leveraging the Instant Messaging (IM) platform as an alternative to email, virtual world (e.g. Second Life), and online web meetings as opposed to face-to-face meetings and conferences. Through blogs, enterprises are engaging in internal and external collaboration which facilitates knowledge sharing in the organization. IDC sees such communication and collaboration as the tip of the iceberg of Enterprise 2.0 transformations to come.

For instance, some corporations are exploring Web 2.0 collaborations such as Wikis to gather ideas and constructive feedback for projects which require teamwork and inter-department collaboration. IDC recommends aligning Service Oriented Architecture-based projects with online Web productivity tools to facilitate team collaboration and improve the success of the project. Web 2.0 tools and approaches could also help in promoting awareness and understanding of new services being rolled out. With increasing popularity of Web 2.0 applications, IDC expects more online services and media content to be leveraged in the business environments.

“The ETAS program is aimed at bringing IDC's thought leadership to the market through the identification of emerging technology trends and advisory services to both ICT vendors and buyers. The aim is to provide meaningful insight and navigation guides to a fast-changing industry where the window of opportunity to competitive advantage is typically narrow.” according to Sandra Ng, Head of IDC’s Asia/Pacific Emerging Technology Advisory Services.

More research practices will be launched in the coming months to track, analyze and predict ‘The Next Big Thing’ in the ever-changing ICT industry and the growing Asia/Pacific region.

For more information about Green IT, Digital Marketplace or ETAS, please contact Elaine Chia at +65-6829-7758 or echia@idc.com.

[1] IDC, Worldwide Server Power and Cooling Expense 2006–2010 Forecast, Doc #203598, September 2006