APAC opening up to open source

By EgovAsia Editors | Sep 29, 2009

Organizations are starting to evaluate open source software (OSS) as a viable alternative while they are trying to find ways to reduce their operational expenses.  This is according to IDC's latest studies, "Asia/Pacific (Excluding Japan) Open Source Software Adoption in 2009" and "Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) Open Source Software Adoptions: Customer Case Study".  

Indonesia has a high percentage of respondents that plan to deploy new open source CRM applications (34.5%) over the next 18 months.

According to the IDC Asia/Pacific Continuum Study 2009, the solutions with the highest percentage of respondents from each primary market that intend to use open source over the next 18 months include CRM applications (9.7%), database management (8.4%), and virtualization software (7.4%).

"Verticals like distribution services (13.0%), infrastructure services (12.1%) and public sector (11.8%) plan to deploy open source for CRM applications within the next 18 months", says Ridhi Sawhney, Market Analyst of Asia/Pacific Enterprise Applications Research at IDC. "The public sector has started to consider open source not only because of obvious benefits from cost reductions, but also with an aim to build an ecosystem, lower the entry barrier, and promote open source adoption.“