More IT budgets directed towards innovation

The study found that on average APJ partners spend 33 per cent of their time helping customers with new creative projects that support new revenue-generating services.
Lionel Lim, president, Asia Pacific & Japan, CA Technologies, said yesterday this indicates that APJ enterprises are putting more emphasis on innovative project development.
Typically, 80 per cent of a company’s IT budget is spent on maintenance and operations, leaving just 20 per cent for innovation initiatives.
The index is an annual study that tracks the IT industry outlook of CA Technologies partners. This is the fifth year of the Index and the first year it has been carried out globally. About 554 of CA Technologies’ partners worldwide took part in this year survey, of which 127 are APJ partners.
The index revealed that 87 per cent of CA Technologies’ partners in APJ expect to see increased spending on enterprise mobility by their customers over the next year. Almost all (95 per cent) recognise that the rapid adoption of mobility creates opportunities to help their businesses grow. A further 79 per cent of partners believe spending will increase in big data over the next 12 months.
“The age of innovation is upon us in Asia-Pacific and Japan. We are seeing exciting socio-economic developments in many Asian nations and IT is at the centre of this transformation.
“The CA Technologies Channel Index 2013 has validated what we are seeing as a definitive mindset shift with many CIOs and business leaders asking for IT to play a crucial role in driving innovation and transformation,” Lim added.
He said the chief information officers of enterprises in this digital era should keep ahead of the trend instead of being followers.
Cloud computing was identified by CA Technologies partners as the third priority for their customers’ IT investments. Nearly three quarters (74 per cent) of the partners surveyed predicted an increase in cloud computing spending over the next year.