Nasscom partners F&S to conduct study on e-business opportunities

NEW DELHI: Nasscom has announced that it is in partnership with international

strategic marketing consulting firm Frost & Sullivan to conduct a study on

"Defining the Market Potential & Characteristics for key e-Business

Applications in Asia & Drawing Market Strategies for Indian IT

companies."

This is a part of Nasscom's initiative to identify the growth opportunities

for Indian Software and Service companies in Asia-Pacific and help them develop

a roadmap for developing IT solutions in e-Business. NASSCOM and Frost &

Sullivan signed a Letter of Engagement (LoE) to this effect.

The study aims to cover eight enterprise applications across 13 geographies

in Asia within 8 different industry verticals. The countries that would be

covered in the study include Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines,

Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Australia, New Zealand

and India.

The scope of the study extends from identifying the current and potential

customers of enterprise application in the region across the following

verticals: financial services, communication, manufacturing, healthcare and

allied services, government, logistics and distribution, travel, tourism and

hospitality and IT services and chip design. Additionally the application areas,

which would be covered by the study, include ERP, Business Intelligence, CRM,

SCM, e-Commerce, Corporate Intranets, Collaborative Commerce and Enterprise

portals.

Nasscom, as the apex body for the Indian Software and Services companies will

support this venture by chalking out the broad "scope" of the project.

Nasscom members would also review the project at various stages and provide

their inputs and feedback. As a part of the new initiative to further catalyze

the growth opportunities for the Indian IT sector, Nasscom will not only conduct

focussed studies with leading consultancy company's but will also co-host

knowledge-focused seminars and summits including with Frost & Sullivan. The

events will focus on emerging opportunities and areas of concern across various

verticals.

Frost & Sullivan, which is headquartered in Silicon Valley, focuses on

sectoral consulting and research in Communications & Information Technology,

Healthcare, and Industrial Technologies. The two organizations will collaborate

to identify opportunity areas from time to time and define strategies for Indian

software companies to target global markets in these areas.

Nasscom president, Kiran Karnik said, "We believe that the study would

benefit the SME segment since it would help them identify specific applications

areas, the use and need of these applications in business processes and will

provide a road map to capture this growing e-business pie in Asia."

Says Aditya Sapru, "The total Asia Pacific market for e-Business

solutions was valued at $8.25 billion in 2000. The positive economic outlook in

the region and increasing awareness are the primary factors that will contribute

to the growth in the market. The growth in 2002 is expected to propel the

development of the market, which is expected to touch $24 billion in 2005.