Technology firms settle downturn strategies

In the current difficult economic situation, international IT companies have implemented strategies to retain or improve their competitive positions in the market and are offering products and solutions to help their customers increase productivity and gain market share.

IBM Thailand's country general manager Thanwa Laohasiriwong said his company had three strategies for survival and success in the new economic environment, including a focus on value, exploiting opportunities and acting with speed.

With its focus on value, the company is cutting expenses where they create little value and redeploying capital to activities, products, markets that generate growth margins and true differentiation, as cash flow is central to survival and strategic flexibility, he said.

Meanwhile, IBM is creating opportunities to gain market share by building future capabilities and changing the industry. It is also taking advantage of the opportunity to overcome organisational inertia and break down barriers to strategic transformation and is establishing risk management by integrating the industry.

Thanwa said IBM would offer its business solutions to cover the small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) market and other emerging markets across the country.

"We hope that the three strategies will help our organisation survive these turbulent economic times. Together with our business partners, we will continue on an innovative path for the growth and success of Thai business," he said.

Hitachi Data Systems (Thailand)'s Country Manager Taveesak Saengthong said his firm would provide winning solutions for the downturn. These include consolidation by tiered storage and virtualisation, thin (dynamic) provisioning and active archiving technologies. These are designed to enhance business performance, capacity and efficiency.

He said Hitachi Data Systems would focus this year on the telecom and banking industries as well as government and education. It will launch promotional campaigns and provide cost-saving solutions to help customers reduce the costs of using IT to enhance their business processes and increase productivity.

"We have expert teams to provide solutions to help customers save costs. At the same time, we will help them to use IT to improve their productivity.

"We will be also launch a Virtualisation Lab Centre in Thailand next month as a showcase to create confidence and enhance customer satisfaction," Taveesak said.

Meanwhile, EMC has announced the extension of its global alliance with Dell until the end of 2013, expecting the partnership to create a competitive edge in the commercial market.

EMC Information Systems (Thailand) country manager Thada Savetsila said that in Thailand, Dell was EMC's original equipment manufacturer and the products involved spanned the enterprise, commercial and consumer segments. The partnership extension will allow Dell to focus on the commercial market, in which the EMC Celerra NX4 storage system plays a critical role.

The NX4 is a unified storage system that helps customers consolidate Network-attached storage, Internet Small Computer System Interface and Fibre Channel technologies on one platform. It will be available in the Thai market next month.

"We believe extension of the alliance will accelerate success for both organisations in the commercial space and customers will have the option to choose either Dell or EMC's service and support for Dell and EMC products and technology," Thada said.

The relationship between the two firms provides cost-effective solutions to customers and delivers technologies that can provide returns on investment, he said.

Meanwhile, the companies will provide consolidated storage solutions to support the mid-range and SME market segments with affordable prices that will encourage investment and demand.

In the near future, Dell is expected to begin promoting a leasing programme to attract customers and increase its market share.