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Published on July 17, 2007

The group consists of five companies - CT Asia, Wealth Management, Solution Corner, Good Idea and InStep - as founding members.

Chalermpon Punnotok, president of TSEP, said the association had been established with a strategy in mind to export Thai software.

The objectives of the group are to prepare global businesses for Thai software and to encourage the local software industry to train more people in terms of quality and quantity.

The association's strategy is to select software which is in niche areas, has solid target groups and involves innovations.

Initially, the association will focus on enterprise software such as what is used in workflow, call centres and financial management areas.

"We believe Thai software is competitive. The selected software must have strength and have been sold in Thailand already, so it can be sold in international markets as well," said Chalermpon.

Under the plan, TSEP will take local software companies to road shows in targeted countries to meet potential target customers in each country.

"To become international software vendors, we will help local software companies find their own customer bases in overseas markets in their own fields of strength," said Chalermpon.

This year the target for the association is to export software to countries in Southeast Asia, especially Vietnam and Laos, before moving to China, the Middle East and Europe over the next five years.

"As we want to build Thai brand awareness globally, we need to put a lot more effort into pushing Thai software to be accepted overseas. It is totally different from Thai brands in food, tourism, and medical industries that are already strong and well accepted," said Chalermpon.

He suggested this role should be adopted more strongly by government rather than the private sector.

TSEP in negotiating with the Software Industry Promotion Agency (Sipa) and Software Park Thailand for funds to establish activities in the global market.

The association requires support from government agencies in areas of advertising, public relations, marketing surveys and attending global events.

TSEP aims to strengthen the Thai software business so it becomes sustainable through customisation and crucial research and development.

"As the United States has Oracle, Germany has SAP, China has Huawei Technologies, Japan has Sony and Korea has Samsung, Thailand should have its own globally recognised IT-related product, especially software, to grab a global market share, instead of the local market being grabbed by global companies," said Chalermpon.

Asina Pornwasin

The Nation