Cloud computing, mobility, social media to drive IT services in Hong Kong in 2012

By eGov Innovation Editors | Nov 23, 2011

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Disruptive technologies like cloud computing, mobility and social media will drive IT services adoption in Hong Kong in 2012, according to research firm Gartner.

"CIOs will see these new delivery models as an opportunity to take stock of what they've invested on and determine if course corrections need to be taken as they strive to lower cost, improve productivity and efficiency. Cloud computing is enabling business units and management to put pressure on IT to improve its efficiency," said Twiggy Lo, Principal Research Analyst, Gartner.

The adoption of cloud computing in Hong Kong has mostly been around using infrastructure as a service for small testing and development projects. However, for the past 12 months, CIOs have been keen to move from talking about cloud to actually implementing though organizations worry about business risks involved.

"Businesses need to better understand these disruptive technologies and how these can be applied to their business. Some of these are hype, others can really be applied to the business. More importantly they need to evaluate the service providers to see if they have the capability to deliver on the promises of the technology," Lo said.

The analyst recommends that companies leverage Hong Kong's mature project management skills and Mainland China's low-cost resources to help Hong Kong customers extend their business into Mainland China, as well as bringing Chinese enterprises to the international market through Hong Kong.

Service providers, on the other hand, need to beef up their capability not just pay lip service about these new disruptive technologies, and play an advisory role to customers in terms of what can and cannot be applied.

Lo believes that vendors have the obligation to continue educating users around these disruptive technologies and the real benefits to be gained from solutions capitalizing on these technologies.

Gartner forecasts Hong Kong's overall IT services market will grow at 5.5 percent and IT management will grow at 6.8 percent in 2011, the highest growth rate among other service lines.