Information technology (IT) spending in Thailand is projected to reach US$13.4 billion in 2015, a 10.6% increase from last year, according to global research firm IDC.
Smarter technology such as 3D printing, robotics and natural user interface will be the trend in the next few years, thanks to the four pillars of the third platform. JIRAPORN KUHAKAN
Given an information-rich, hyper-connected culture, the growing adoption of cloud computing and increasingly intense competition, local IT spending is set to see a strong recovery in 2015, said Michael Araneta, IDC Thailand's country manager.
The IT industry is in the midst of a massive structural shift towards what the industry calls the third platform — the next-generation computing platform characterised by a proliferation of always-connected smart mobile devices, coupled with the widespread use of social networking, layered over a cloud-based server infrastructure supporting important new workloads such as big data analytics.
Cloud services, mobile computing, big data analytics and social networking are expected to create millions of apps, billions of users and trillions of internet-connected things.
These four pillars herald smarter technology over the next few years including robotics, the Internet of Things, 3D printing and natural user interface — face and eye recognition, biometric fingerprint readers, cognitive systems and next-generation security systems.
These disruptive technologies will potentially transform life, business and the global economy.
IDC believes that third platform solutions will be the primary drivers of the ICT industry over the next decade, accounting for 75% of growth as worldwide industry spending rises from $3.2 trillion in 2013 to $5.3 trillion by 2020.
In Asia-Pacific excluding Japan, regional ICT spending for the third platform will see a compound annual growth rate of 17% during 2013-20. The second platform will see a contraction of 0.7% during that period.
Banking/insurance, retail and manufacturing are the top three IT spenders and leading adopters in Thailand.
Mr Araneta said cloud computing, the third platform of enterprise resource planning and advanced analytics of customer relationship management were set to be the top three technologies that companies in Thailand will spend on and they will have a positive impact on all businesses.
A combination of factors are actively driving the adoption of the third platform, some of which are an evolution of previous ones (including lower cost and ease of use) while others are brand new.
He added that the advent of global cloud computing providers such as Amazon to Thailand was also expected to convince end users and companies to adopt cloud services with confidence.
"The local cloud-based service market is projected to grow by 29% to $30 million in 2015," he said.
Cloud computing is gaining currency here, with Thai commercial banks pioneering cloud adoption in Asean.
"Thailand's banking industry is likely to see a reduction of operating costs by an average 40% in 2015," said Mr Araneta.
Neeranuch Kanokvilairat, IDC's senior market analyst, said Thailand's telecom industry was projected to grow by 14.5% to $11.17 billion in 2015, despite the lack of 4G commercial services.
Of the total, $8.67 billion will come from mobile services and $2.5 billion from fixed-line telephones and broadband services.
The mobile data service is expected to be an important force in the local mobile market, set to grow by 29.6% to $3.7 billion in 2015, as social networking is expected to continue growing exponentially in terms of users.
Sales of smartphones in Thailand are expected to rise 17% to 19.2 million in 2015, with total mobile phone sales expected to hit 30 million, as 3G subscriptions continue to see rapid growth.
"Thailand's smartphone penetration is expected to reach 50% of the total population in 2015, up from 37.7% in 2014," said Ms Neeranuch.
The third platform, the next-generation computing platform built on mobile computing, social networking, cloud services and big data analytics technologies, will transform life, business and the global economy, predicts IDC. Seksan Rojjanametakul