Stories by Len Rust

Customisable mobile messaging key to growth

SMS is taking off in the Americas, mobile e-mail continues its strong growth in developed regions, subscriber growth is driving messaging adoption in the Asia/Pacific Region, and social networking is lifting the messaging boat across nearly all regions, according to a study by ABI Research. The combination of factors is expected to increase revenues from mobile messaging to $US212 billion by 2013, ABI found.

Speech recognition finds favour

Speech recognition was the most preferred self-service channel among customers of the technology, according to a survey conducted in Australia for Nuance Communications by research company, callcentres.net.

Asian system integrators push SOA

Local system integrators and independent software vendors (ISVs) are playing significant roles in the ability of service-oriented architecture vendors to penetrate four major domestic markets in Asia, according to Springboard Research. This is especially evident in the Chinese market, which is dominated by local players. These are the findings of Springboard's latest research covering Asia's SOA market, and based on a survey of 354 CIOs and IT managers of large and mid-market enterprises in China, India, Singapore, and Australia.

Interest in luxury shopping still high

While 12 consecutive interest rate rises might be trying to slow the economy, the average Australian's love of shopping hasn't slowed at all, according to Australia's pre-eminent comparison shopping Web site, Myshopping.com.au.

Femtocells yet to take off in Asia/Pacific region

Femtocells - small cellular communications base stations -- will generate revenue of nearly $A5 million in 2008 from device shipments in the Asia/Pacific region, according to a new study from ABI Research.

What outsourcing clients really think

Companies are approaching outsourcing contracts with renegotiation in mind by creating leverage through strategies such as price benchmarking claw-back and blue-sky clauses, according to a survey by IDC.

Aussies worth watching

Holly Connects, Aspect Digital, Hoojano, Intrapower, Retail Directions, and Mydials come under the spotlight of Aussie companies making waves

An opportunity to contribute

A wide ranging review of Australia's national innovation system has been launched by Senator Kim Carr, the Australian Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science, and Research. The review will be conducted by an expert panel chaired by Dr. Terry Cutler.

Positive outlooks

Recent commentaries from home-grown IT companies have highlighted that the IT sector can be an important source of growth for Australia. The spill-over effect can have positive benefits to the rest of our domestic economy.

Aussies worth watching

ACQUIRE delivers a solution for the capture, management, and delivery of geo-scientific observations and measurements in a range of industries. In essence the technology supports the decentralisation of workflow management to each customer site or location. Acquire has installed solutions in more than 300 exploration and mining operations worldwide.

BI top of Aussie CIOs' priority lists

For the third year in a row, business intelligence (BI) applications have been ranked the top technology priority in the 2008 Gartner Executive Programs survey of 1500 chief information officers (CIOs). According to Gartner, this is because CIOs know they must implement a BI strategy properly if they want to accomplish many other priorities, such as customer service improvement and legacy application modernisation.

Users still wary of long BPO commitments

Australian organisations are cautious about the considerable compliance risks related to business process outsourcing (BPO), including privacy and data protection, intellectual property rights, and executive accountability, according to a study by IDC. This is the case even though Australian organisations believe BPO can be used as a vehicle to cut back-office costs and in many cases, improve a process. The IDC report is titled Australia Customer Priorities for Business Process Outsourcing Services.

A 10-year crystal ball for business

S2 Intelligence, an Australian company that researches technology and business innovation, recently released The Future of Business 2008 - 2018, a detailed report on how emerging information technologies will impact industries, organisations, and work.

Interactive advertising starts making headway

The global advertising market grew to just over $US600 billion in 2007, according to The Kelsey Group. The research firm expects global ad revenues to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.7 per cent and reach $US707 billion in 2012, propelled in large part by considerable growth in the interactive segment.

Telco networks underpin digital comms

In 2008, telco networks will underpin digital communication, the credit crunch will drive Asia/Pacific acquisition of global telcos, and the mobile GPS industry will undergo rapid transformation according to Ian McCall, lead telecommunications partner for Deloitte's technology, media & telecommunications industry group.

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