APAC IT, services spending exceeds $3.4bn

Asia Pacific’s spending on IT and business services surpassed US$3 billion for the first time in a quarter, with record levels of spending in Q2 for both cloud-based and traditional managed services, according to research and advisory firm Information Services Group (ISG).

The Asia Pacific ISG Index, which measures commercial outsourcing contracts with an annual contract value (ACV) of US$5 million or more, shows the region generated US$3.4 billion in combined-market ACV in the second quarter, up 59% against a soft quarter last year at the outset of the pandemic, and up 35% from the first quarter.

ACV for cloud-based services (as-a-service) came in at a record $2.4 billion, up 50% over last year, on 52% growth in infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), to a record $2.1 billion, and 38% growth in software-as-a-service (SaaS), to a record $312 million.

Managed services, meanwhile, turned in its best quarter in two years, with ACV soaring 87%, to a record $929 million. IT outsourcing (ITO) reached a record $800.1 million, up 80%, and business process outsourcing (BPO) rocketed 148%, to $129 million. Contract activity was at its highest level in the region in three years.

Among the 62 deals signed during the quarter, 12 were valued at more than US $30 million of ACV — more of this size than were signed in all of 2020.

Within the region, most markets delivered sizeable year-over-year growth in managed services, including Australia–New Zealand (ANZ), China, Japan and South Asia, with only Korea declining versus the prior year.

“The second quarter was a real standout for the Asia Pacific region, with record demand in virtually every segment and strong growth across the board,” said Scott Bertsch, partner and regional leader, ISG Asia Pacific.

“The results in ANZ, the region’s largest managed services market, were particularly encouraging. With more than $300 million of ACV this quarter, ANZ delivered its best performance since the end of 2018.”

For the first half of 2021, the combined market generated a record US$5.8 billion of ACV, up 32%. As-a-service, at a record US$4.5 billion, was up 33%, and managed services, at US$1.3 billion, was up 28.5%.

Within as-a-service, IaaS reached a record US$3.9 billion, up 34%, and SaaS hit a record US$614 million, up 23%. The battle for hyperscale cloud supremacy in the region continues, with Chinese providers adding to the competition. During the quarter, BMW Group opened a joint innovation base with Alibaba Cloud in Shanghai, and global mining firm BHP, based in Australia, signed cloud deals with both AWS and Microsoft Azure.

Competition is also heating up in the cloud-based ERP software space. In Japan, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group recently selected Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP to consolidate accounting functions, Toshiba chose SAP to replace its legacy financial systems and Adobe remained active in the region by leveraging its digital media business and signing new clients such as Toyota and Bytedance.

On the managed services side, ITO reached US$1.1 billion, up 21.5%, on 77 transactions, with strength in application development and maintenance (ADM) services, even as infrastructure services declined. A notable ADM award was Accenture’s deal with Japanese telecom company KDDI. One of the larger awards this quarter was HCL winning a multi-tower IT transaction with a diversified financial firm.

BPO reached US$237 million, up 75%, spurred by industry-specific BPO and engineering and R&D services. Neusoft clinched a sizable ER&D agreement to supply Geely Smart Cars with infotainment systems, and Globant won a deal with Nissan’s customer service team.

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