ASEAN Firms Allocating Higher Percentage of Budgets to Fund IT-Led Innovation

CA Technologies Committed to Asia South Growth in Midst of IT Innovation Mindset Shift

Kuala Lumpur, September 26, 2012 – CA Technologies and IDC have released the findings of a survey titled “IDC Asia South C-Suite Innovation Barometer Survey: Are You Innovation Ready?” The study revealed that businesses in Asia South are experiencing a mindset shift in terms of innovation investment, signalling that ASEAN based C-level executives recognise a growing need to innovate for business success in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

In an IDC White Paper sponsored by CA Technologies, a survey was conducted in July 2012 with over 120 IT decision makers from businesses across Asia South (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand) to discover how views and strategies for ICT investments vary in the region.

With rising operation costs and the need to continually engage customers on new platforms being key concerns, business leaders in Asia South are looking for innovative IT initiatives that can transform their businesses in the rapidly changing economy. There exists a pressing need to accelerate development cycles and transform processes to match customer needs, while securing the broad range of devices and platforms to access data on cloud, virtual or mobile assets.

As CA Technologies has been broadening its presence and engagement in the ASEAN market, with its Asia Pacific & Japan headquarters located in Singapore, and newly appointed Country Representative Partners (CRP) offices established in Malaysia and Thailand in 2012. CA Technologies is confident that its growth strategies in ASEAN and philosophy of business service innovation fall in line with the vision of C-level executives in the region.

Top technologies that are being considered for 2012 and 2013 by Asia South businesses were virtualisation, security, mobile, cloud and green IT. These priorities are in line with global enterprise IT trends that CA Technologies is actively working with customers and partners to implement and address for organisations the world over. 70% of all respondents cited Business process transformation as an IT-led innovation that their organisation is currently investing in.

With budget allocations for IT innovation typically assigned according to a traditional 80/20 principle, with 20 per cent allocated for innovation related initiatives, and 80 per cent dedicated to day-to-day operations and maintenance costs, the Asia South market has demonstrated a mindset shift in terms of its strategy on IT led innovation. An average of 38 per cent of budgets was allocated for innovation in 2012, as opposed to the expected 20 per cent. This figure is 39.8 per cent for 2013, indicating an increasing emphasis on investing in innovation as a strategy for growth and differentiation.

Furthermore, 75% of CEOs or CIOs in Asia South are seen as enablers, champions or experts on innovation. Only 25% play no major role or are seen as barriers to innovation. In a typically top-down culture of Asia South markets, this is a promising sign of having lead stakeholders playing a pivotal role in driving innovation for their organisations.

“IDC believes that organisations need to first achieve a level of effectiveness in harnessing IT, followed by aligning IT with business priorities, before driving IT-led innovations to achieve desired outcomes,” said Sandra Ng, Group Vice President, Practice Group, IDC Asia/Pacific. “By identifying the key influencers in their leadership and working strategically to plan and invest in IT-led innovation, businesses can directly address some of their key business concerns in challenging economic environments.”

“Accelerating business transformation and driving innovation sit at the core of what CA Technologies is all about,” said Victor Cheng, Vice President, Asia South, CA Technologies. “The landscape in Asia South is very dynamic and highly competitive. Businesses can look to IT-led innovations to address specific business issues such as cost optimisation or how to increase customer engagement in order to remain relevant in today’s economy.”

IDC is the foremost global market intelligence and advisory firm helping clients understand technology and e-business trends to develop sound, action-oriented business strategies. For additional information on IDC, please visit www.idc.com.