Special Features |
- Salad Days for SaaS in Asia
Just a couple of years ago, it you asked any businessperson in Asia if they had heard of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), chances are that they would have said ‘huh?'. But times are changing, as the rapidly-growing SaaS market in Asia is emerging... Read more »
- The Changing Face of the IT Media
Over the past few years, the IT media throughout Asia-Pacific has undergone significant change with a general squeeze in the IT publishing market forcing many publications to either reduce staff numbers or worst case, close. The notable exception to this trend is in China... Read more »
- Upstream Taiwan Positioned to Help Tech Firms Tap Dynamic Market
What do companies in diverse technology sectors such as EDS, AXS-One, Acrossmedia, UGS and SWIFT share in common? They have relied on the integrated marketing communications expertise of Upstream Taiwan to tap one of Asia's most advanced and dynamic markets for technology-driven products and solutions... Read more »
- Asian Innovation Making Its Mark
As Asia has risen to become a powerhouse in technology, not surprisingly the region is becoming a global centre for innovation, if patent applications are any valid indication... Read more »
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Hot News About Cool Clients |
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SWIFT rolls out regional stakeholder communications in APAC
 SWIFT, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication enlisted Upstream, its official regional communications partner in Asia-Pacific, to help support its stakeholder communications in line with the SWIFT business forums around the region including Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Australia and Singapore. This year marked the debut of the business forums in many of these regions. More than 1,300 SWIFT community members from the region's banks and leading corporates attended the series. Upstream's ongoing role is to help SWIFT communicate its customer-centric focus to audiences around the region, and further the organisation's reputation for resilience and efficiency.
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Kaseya doubles sales in Australia and New Zealand
 The Australia and New Zealand marketplace is among the fastest-growing in the world for Kaseya for its managed services platform, which automates common IT tasks. Kaseya's ongoing education campaign targeting the media and the analyst community, managed by Upstream, has significantly increased awareness about these previously largely unknown solutions and helped build the brand. Business benefits are following, as sales revenues have doubled between the first and second quarters of this year.
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EDS and China's Ministry of Commerce sign milestone Strategic Cooperation Agreement
 EDS and China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) signed a MOU on promoting IT service development in China at the Fifth CISIS in Dalian. Upstream was appointed to implement the IT Service Outsourcing Industry Summit and the luncheon, and release its milestone partnership to public. More than 150 guests attended the events, including government officials, EDS senior executives, McKinsey senior executives, entrepreneurs and nationwide media. This partnership has also generated over 60 positive clippings.
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| Linksys unveils new Wireless-N router in China
 Linksys' WRT150N, the first Wireless-N router priced below RMB 1,000 in China, was launched at the press conference in Beijing organised by Upstream. More than 50 media attended the event, covering IT, general, digital product trade, business, TV and radio.
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CEATEC Japan promotes the 2007 event in China
 CEATEC Japan 2007, one of Asia's largest electronics and IT shows, has selected Upstream to organise the press conference and luncheon in Beijing. A total of 63 media attended the events, covering telecom/IT, business, general and online outlets achieving a 70 percent increase of attendance over the 2006 event. |
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Riverbed introduces new Steelhead Mobile product
 Upstream organised media activities in Beijing and Shanghai as Riverbed released its new Steelhead® Mobile product, a software client version of its award-winning WDS technology. The events attracted 50 media covering IT, telecom, business, general, online and TV media. |
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Upstream helps launch Asia's own Internet domain
 Upstream has helped DotAsia, the registry operator of the .Asia domain, offer the ultimate first-mover advantage in e-commerce in Asia, home of the world's fastest-growing economies and Internet communities. The Dot Asia Pioneer Domains Programme is a unique merit-based opportunity for those with the best ideas to develop compelling new web sites with the best domain names - prime real estate in a booming cyberspace market from the .Asia registry - before .Asia goes on line. |
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Acrossmedia in-store marketing systems debut in Taiwan
 Upstream has launched the first stage of an integrated public relations campaign to educate the Taiwan media and retail industry about the benefits of the Danish vendor's In-store Digital Marketing content creation and screen placement point-of-sales solutions. Activities included a press conference announcing a strategic alliance and interviews leveraging Acrossmedia's first major deployment with major chain Sinon Supermarket. |
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Articles |
| Salad Days for SaaS in Asia
Just a couple of years ago, it you asked any businessperson in Asia if they had heard of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), chances are that they would have said ‘huh?'. But times are changing, as the rapidly-growing SaaS market in Asia is emerging. Awareness of SaaS increasing, from 41 percent in 2006 to 75 percent in 2007, according to new data from Springboard Research. Take-up by enterprises is not far behind, with 46 percent of respondents using some form of SaaS this year, compared to 29 percent in 2006.
Springboard's research was conducted among almost 385 CIOs and IT decision makers at enterprises in Australia, China, India, New Zealand and Singapore.
Perhaps the best news is that the SaaS market growth momentum is expected to last for the long run. The SaaS market in Asia (excluding Japan) increased 78 percent in 2006 to US $154 million, and will grow at a CAGR of 66 percent from 2006 to 2010, and will reach US$1.16 billion by 2010, By then, Springboard predicts, SaaS will comprise 15 percent of the enterprise software application market.
Springboard has also found that the competitive landscape in the region, although still dominated by the top 5 vendors - Salesforce.com, WebEx, RightNow Technologies, Oracle and NetSuite, is in flux. Other vendors, notably local players, are beginning to make inroads in the region and small vendors accounted for 54 percent of SaaS market revenue in 2006. Well-established players like Microsoft and Symantec are also articulating more clear-cut SaaS market strategies.
Who Makes What Decision?
Significantly for marketers, a sea change is underway from a decision making perspective. While the IT department remains firmly in control of software deployments in most organisations, especially large ones, business users are emerging as key influencers of SaaS adoption. In many instances, SaaS applications are deployed for business applications without the involvement or knowledge of the IT department.
Springboard found that although customer relationship management (CRM) remains the largest SaaS application segment by revenue in Asia, representing 45 percent of total SaaS revenue in 2006, other applications are being adopted, the most widely used being desktop office applications (word processors, spreadsheets), e-mail, security/compliance applications, and HR-payroll/workforce management.
Perhaps more importantly, enterprises are generally happy, with all application segments scoring between a 7 to 8 on a 10-point satisfaction scale.
Channels represent an important vehicle for the continued growth of SaaS as 71 percent of the respondents believe the involvement of a local reseller or agent is necessary. Not surprisingly, given this finding and the growth potential combined with Asia's penchant for small businesses, SaaS is encouraging a wave of new entrepreneurship in Asia Pacific. The success of SaaS is attracting a significant number of local IT professionals and ISVs to the application software market. SaaS is offering new market opportunities for small ISVs that could previously not sell to SMBs without an IT staff. Moreover, partnerships with leading SaaS providers are helping ISVs reach markets beyond their local geographies.
While one might be hard pressed to find a segment of IT where things have changed more than the SaaS sector, things have more or less stayed the same in SaaS' geographical spread across Asia Pacific. Australia is still the most mature market in the region with a 37 percent share, and China, Korea, India and Singapore are the other leading markets in the region.
For more information, visit Springboard Research |
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| The Changing Face of the IT Media
Over the past few years, the IT media throughout Asia-Pacific has undergone significant change with a general squeeze in the IT publishing market forcing many publications to either reduce staff numbers or worst case, close. The notable exception to this trend is in China, where the historically meteoric rise of the economy has spawned a variety of industries, including the IT sector and a rapidly expanding middle class all demanding a forum for views.
With a smaller numbers of publications in existence in most regions, public relations professionals in the tech sector have had to adjust to these changes and are fighting to create mindshare among a smaller number of magazines, newspapers and online news sites.
Over the past several years in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong, several publications have hit the wall including Technology & Business, APC's Newswire online, B2B Magazine, ROAM, Asia Computer Weekly and Electronic Business Asia.
An increasing number of journalists are also choosing to work on a contract or freelance basis, writing for a wide range of publications. These influencers are becoming harder to track with many developing their own regular blogs in addition to the work that they complete for from print and online publications.
As a result, communicators have had to respond to these changes by developing communications strategies that aren't reliant on the mainstream IT media only to deliver results for clients.
While there is no shortage of low-quality and sometimes libelous blogs and amateur sites, it is becoming more important to maintain lists of influential bloggers and find ways to reach these writers. The freelance element also warrants more serious attention, but is even more difficult to target and communicate with.
Creating and managing your own blog for direct communication between clients and their target customers can be useful, as long as content is chosen scrupulously on its own merit, and links don't exclude relevant other sources. Alternatively, a content-led online newsletter can be used to promote thought leadership in a particular industry sector. Similarly, other new media in the so-called Web 2.0 world such as podcasting (digital media files delivered over the Internet and played back on PCs and digital music players) and even vodcasting (the delivery of on-demand video clips over the Internet) are increasingly becoming more popular means to broadcast information and communicate messages.
Such tools create a platform that allows more direct communication with customers and stakeholders, and uses feedback (positive or negative) in the future development and roll out of products and services.
Upstream can help in a number of ways, from counsel on channels and content selection, to developing and hosting digital communications on our clients' behalf. Ultimately, Upstream's clients can take advantage of these new media not just to stay relevant but to gain mind- and market share in a fast-changing IT media landscape.
Byron Connolly [byron@upstreamaustralia.com]
Director, B2B Marketing
Upstream Australia
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| Upstream Taiwan Positioned to Help Tech Firms Tap Dynamic Market
What do companies in diverse technology sectors such as EDS, AXS-One, Acrossmedia, UGS and SWIFT share in common? They have relied on the integrated marketing communications expertise of Upstream Taiwan to tap one of Asia's most advanced and dynamic markets for technology-driven products and solutions.
Upstream Asia is located in Taipei, the island's largest city and a strategic global technology hub near the headquarters of leading OEM/ODM and branded technology companies such as Acer, ASUS, BenQ, Hon Hai, Quanta and TSMC. These companies and others here have undergone nothing less than an industrial makeover to remain competitive in a world increasingly dominated by lower-cost Chinese assemblers and by Japanese and South Korean companies with strong footholds in high-end components like flash memory chips. One of the strengths of their industrial counterparts on Taiwan in the face of increased competition has been their flexibility in providing products and services customised to meet the needs of specific companies and markets. This strategy of repackaging - finding new use for computer components - has paid off, as not only have companies here captured a sizeable share of the market for both wireless and dial-up modems and PDAs, Taiwan enterprises have even increased their share of the competitive cellphone business.
Similarly, Upstream Taiwan is maintaining our world-class reputation to bolster our competitiveness against both local and international firms by strengthening our services. Through alliances with local partners and vendors specialised in design, event management and online and multimedia marketing we, like our technology industry counterparts, are now re-positioned to be more flexible with a wider range of competitively priced service offerings. Not only are we prepared for communicating news to new media, we can create industry-specific and consumer microsites, and can help manage focused e-mail marketing campaigns directed at consumers and prospects. Of course, we still provide our core world-class capabilities in public relations and media relations.
Beyond offering enhanced services delivered by front line multilingual professionals, we can also leverage specialised resources and support from Upstream's offices elsewhere in the region, featuring some of the area's best technology communications professionals who have successfully led market and corporate communications campaigns for a wide range of clients in Taiwan and elsewhere.
"The shifting media environment and changing customer and consumer habits, including reliance on the Web for information have made the marketing scene more exciting but also much more challenging," Katherine Wang, General Manager of Upstream Taiwan, believes. "Our expanded creative and cross-platform service portfolio enables companies and brands to powerfully and credibly connect with their customers and prospects."
Upstream Taiwan's continued commitment to enable our clients to communicate with impact and differentiate themselves, using the appropriate medium and technology, from terrestrial TV to viral marketing to 3G phones and everything in between ensures that we are well-positioned to help our clients meet these marketing challenges.
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| Asian Innovation Making Its Mark
As Asia has risen to become a powerhouse in technology, not surprisingly the region is becoming a global centre for innovation, if patent applications are any valid indication. According to the World Intellectual Property organisation (WIPO) 2007 patent report based on 2005 figures, Northeast Asian countries registered the highest growth both as a source of patent applications and as a target of non-resident patent applications from outside the region. Patent filings by residents doubled in South Korea and increased by eight times over in China between 1995 and 2005. The patent office of China witnessed the highest growth rate for resident applications at 42.1 percent followed by South Korea at 16.1 percent. Japan and South Korea had the highest rate of resident patent applications per capita at 2,876 and 2,530 patent applications respectively per million inhabitants.
The U.S. patent office had granted the most patents in 2005, followed by Japan, South Korea (up two places from 2004), China (up one place from 2004) and the EPO. The five offices account for 74 percent of the 600,000 patents granted in 2005.
The report also showed international applications for the use of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) rose to 147,500, up 7.9 percent from 2005-2006. The PCT is a multilateral pact that provides a simplified system for international patent filing. The number of PCT filings from Northeast Asian countries is likewise increasing rapidly, said the report.
Source: WIPO Patent Report: Statistics on Worldwide Patent Activity (2007 Edition)
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