New technologies to lure companies next year

The Association of Thai ICT industry (ATCI) vice president Thanachart Numnonda said the software and hardware industries are dynamic and ever changing. Mobile devices are now becoming major computing platforms that enable people to join and access networks anywhere, anytime.

The following applications are expected to gain popularity with Thai organisations next year.

Financial applications will enable banks and other financial institutions to expand their services portfolios by leveraging technology for core banking, mobile Internet banking, payment gateways and e-money services.

Security, customer-relationship management, contact centre, spend management and human-resource applications will help companies cut costs, reach target customers, enhance management and offer customisation services.

Agriculture and traceability applications will utilise radio-frequency identification technology to test and trace products from the point of origin - farms - to the market. The technology will boost confidence among buyers who will be able to trace the products to their source.

Meanwhile, tourism and mobile Internet applications will allow companies to leverage technology to increase their businesses and marketing channels, enabling them to reach their target customers.

Thanachart said automobile, car care and insurance applications will play an important role for application-service providers because they, in turn, provide comprehensive solutions to improve productivity of other organisations.

Healthcare applications will help hospitals provide high-quality services and utlise open-source technology in their IT infrastructure.

Finally, Thanachart said, mobile-office applications will facilitate telecommuting. Employees will be able to connect to their offices from anywhere using a network.

Research company Gartner reported that 80 per cent of all software across the world will include elements of open-source technology and more than 90 per cent of enterprises will use open-source software by 2011.