Sipa cloud project kicks off
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The Software Industry Promotion Agency (Sipa) has launched a cloud-computing model offering Thai software for the tourism industry.
The move aims to gather the strength of local software companies who offer software and solutions for tourism businesses and sell their products via the cloud to both domestic and overseas buyers.
Sipa’s board president Supachai Tangwongsan said tourism was a huge potential market for Thai software, especially within the Asean region.
“Sipa’s mission is to build Thailand-brand software in the global market. Vertical markets and the tourism sector are the first areas for us to move on,” he said.
In its budget for next year, Sipa has set aside Bt130 million to support the local software industry in five business clusters: logistics, healthcare, food and agriculture, education and tourism. The money will be used for software development and marketing.
“We hope this project will help to create many more solutions for the tourism industry, both here and overseas. Currently, the local tourism industry spends about Bt3 billion to Bt5 billion per year on software and technologies. This is not a small market for Thai software vendors, but we are not aiming solely at the local tourism industry. We aim to be the software service provider for the global tourism industry,” Supachai said.
The goal is international recognition of Thailand as a software service provider, using the software-as-a-service model. In the tourism industry, the aggressive goal is to attract 20,000 hotels in Thailand and 100,000 hotels in Southeast Asia to use Thai software solutions, said Sipa board member Chalermpon Punnotok.
“Our strong strategy is the integration of our [local] solutions into one. That will provide one-stop shopping and one-stop service, making it easier for customers to buy our solutions,” he said.
Sipa does not intend to set up its own cloud-computing infrastructure, but will use existing infrastructures, owned by software companies.
Thai Hotels’ Association director Sakrin Chorsawai said cloud computing was a very suitable model from which to offer software-as-a-service to small- and medium-sized tourism businesses. Currently, Thai tourism businesses are in need of software and technologies to help them increase their competitiveness.
With the aim of attracting buyers for local software services, the Sipa project is planning roadshows in nine tourism destinations: Pattaya, Kanchanaburi, Phuket, Koh Samui, Khao Yai, Hua Hin, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Bangkok. It will also stage roadshows in Tokyo, Manila, Ho Chi Minh City, Bali and Kuala Lumpur.
The project involves collaboration between Sipa and the Association of Thai Software Industry (ATSI), the Association of Thai ICT Industry (ATCI), the Thai Software Export Promotion Association (TSEP), the Thai Hotels’ Association and the Thai Spa Association.
At least 10 Thai software companies will offer their products and services in the project, including Signature, Ada Soft, Arunsawat, Touch Technology, IT Work, TNT, Vertasoft, AI Soft and Galileo.
