Thailand's total software market reached Bt50 billion last year and will grow to Bt62 billion this year. These figures suggest the industry is in good shape, as it has a growth rate of around 15 per cent annually.

However, a closer look at the market proportion generated by Thai software companies reveals that it is only 20 per cent.

"The market value generated by local software companies is still small, and this has raised serious concerns for the industry," said Somkiat Ungaree, the new president of the Association of Thai Software Industry (ATSI).

Somkiat took the position as new ATSI president last month and he, together with the other 15 members of the board, have turned their attention to encouraging the local software industry. They have an aggressive plan to increase the market share for Thai software companies from 20 per cent to 40 per cent this year and then at least 50 per cent next year.

To drive the Thai software industry forward, ATSI has a mission to stimulate the use of local software products through the Buy Thai First scheme. The scheme is to encourage users to buy local software products while strengthening local companies to develop products and services to meet industry demands.

Somkiat said the association would push local software development on dual tracks - both supply and demand sides.

"We have developed three strategies to assist the local software industry to reach the goal and become recognised both inside and outside the country," he said.

The first strategy is to create partnerships with related organisations.

Somkiat said for the supply side, the association would work with the government organisations responsible for software-industry development, including the Software Industry Promotion Agency (Sipa), the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre and Software Park Thailand.

For the demand side, ATSI will partner with other associations which are software users such as the Federation of Thai Industries and the Thai Chamber of Commerce, to encourage their members to use Thai software.

With this strategy, Somkiat believed the association would be able to bridge the requirements of both demand and supply sides and local software development would reach industry requirements.

Creating confidence in Thai software products is another concern. In the second strategy, the association plans to launch two projects called Thailand Software Yes and Thailand People Yes to create confidence when users buy local software products.

Thailand Software Yes is the first project designed for local software companies. To give users more confidence in local products, the association will guarantee the products and services of local software companies.

The project will screen local software companies and offer them a guarantee if their products and services reach criteria set by the association. They will then receive the Thailand Software Yes logo.

Like the Thailand Software Yes project, Somkiat said the Thailand People Yes project would follow the same concept, but the certification process would be done for freelance software developers.

"We now have many freelance software developers who receive independent assignments. To help customers make a decision to use services from these people, we will help them screen those who offer them a service," Somkiat said.

For companies to pass the Thailand Software Yes criteria, they need at least three customers, while for Thailand People Yes, only one customer is needed.

The association will set up a team to screen local software companies and staff. The team, he said, would check with customers about their satisfaction with software products and services and if everything meets the criteria, the association would give the certification.

To encourage users to buy Thai software, local software companies themselves need to make their products to a certain standard. The third strategy will therefore involve strengthening the local industry by encouraging local software companies to be certified to a software development standard.

Somkiat said he planned to revive the local Thai Quality Software (TQS) standard, which was developed by the association many years ago to certify local software companies. He said TQS would be the first step to encourage local software companies to reach a standard before moving into international standards such as CMMI.

"We think local software companies should be certified to a local standard first so when they sell products under Buy Thai First, it will create more confidence for local customers. When they're strong enough, they can upgrade to the CMMI standard," he said.

Normally, applying for the CMMI standard takes time and it involves a lengthy process and a high budget. Somkiat said the TQS would therefore help local software companies, especially those who are still small.

The association hopes to push around 200 local software companies to get the TQS standard within two years.

The president also hopes that within two years, he will be able to have at least five companies listed in the Market for Alternative Investment and have around 20 Thai software companies in joint ventures. With the proliferation of free trade agreements, the Thai industry has to protect itself and Somkiat believes that Buy Thai First will be a step to strengthen local software companies.

Apart from the local market, Somkiat is also concentrating on promoting local software for export. He said software exports accounted for 5 per cent on average and he hopes to increase the proportion to 20 per cent in the next two years.

The association plans to work with Sipa to set up software outlets in other countries to be centres for Thai software exports. The centres will create connections with customers in other countries and match their requirements with local software companies.

Meanwhile, ATSI will help local software companies make self-assessments before attempting international markets.

The self-assessment, Somkiat said, would help the association know the readiness of Thai software companies. If it found a company was ready in terms of having qualified products and services as well as business practices to go aboard, the association would offer them a Thailand Exporter Yes logo to guarantee them. This is also a way to assure customers in other countries that they will get quality software products from Thailand.

"With all these efforts, we hope that we can push local software companies to take a bigger share in the market while encouraging users, both inside and outside the country, to consider buying Thai software products first," he concluded.