Asian governments to spend more on IT

Asian governments to spend more on IT

Agence France-Presse, Singapore

Governments in the Asia-Pacific region will invest more to embrace the benefits of information technology, with China seen spending the most, an industry monitor said Monday.

International Data Corp. (IDC) said of the five governments it has profiled, China is projected to increase spending at a compounded annual growth rate of nearly 40 percent from 2001 to 2003.

Spending on keeping governments wired electronically is expected to increase by more than 20 percent in Singapore and South Korea during the same period, and by 15 and 13 percent respectively in Australia and Hong Kong, IDC said in a statement.

"By embracing technology, governments are finding they can reap the same type of rewards as e-businesses," said Lisa Shishido, a senior analyst on e-business and e-government with IDC.

"These rewards include more efficient processes, improved public services and cost savings, allowing government to do more with less -- all of which lead to greater satisfaction with government," she said.

Governments were still in the "primary stages" of getting their operations online.

Most of them have a "narrow focus on providing electronic services and achieving agency-by-agency operational efficiency -- without considering the benefits they can achieve by approaching it as an e-business transformation," Shishido said.

The projected government spending should create business opportunities for IT vendors and service providers, IDC said.