By John Mark V. Tuazon
Computerworld Philippines
December 7, 2009

The Philippines ranked first in most areas of information infrastructure management investments, besting four other South Asian countries surveyed by research firm IDC in a regional study commissioned by EMC.

Among five South Asian countries polled, the Philippines had the highest allocation for information infrastructure investments—which includes storage, protection, optimization and leveraging of data—at around 23% of the budget.

The study interviewed 405 companies equally distributed among the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and India, seeking to assess the information infrastructure situation and behavior in the region.

The Philippines also came in close second to India in terms of having fully integrated security policies in place (40%); and to Singapore in having back up solutions for data on PCs (62%).

Even before the disastrous onslaught of typhoon Ondoy (International name: Ketsana) that ravaged most of the country’s capital, the study found that Philippine companies are keen on having disaster recovery and business continuity systems in place (around 32%).

Worth noting, however, is the fact that almost the same percentage of companies would experience a total system failure should a disaster strike (around 29%).

The stellar rankings of the Philippines, according to an EMC executive, can be attributed to the country’s booming vertical industries and its relatively protected state during the recession.

“It could also be that these countries have little budget for strategy and consultancy services that they tend to invest in basic components of information infrastructure,” said Ronnie Latinazo, country manager, EMC Philippines.

“It’s possible, also, that Philippine companies are getting more optimistic about their investments,” he added.

Surprisingly trailing behind statistics is Singapore, the only first world country surveyed, with an information infrastructure allocation at only 14% of the overall IT budget. “It’s possible that these developed countries already have these systems in place, and are focused mainly on upgrading and maintaining them,” Latinazo posited.

Singapore likewise lagged behind neighboring countries in having fully-integrated backup systems in place, with only about 18% of companies surveyed ensuring seamless transition during disasters.

The study was commissioned following a global realization that at least 70% of digital content worldwide are being created by individuals, while 85% of handling the same information are the responsibility of global businesses.

A previous EMC-sponsored study in 2008 projected this data to grow five-fold within the next four years, with budgetary spending on IT systems and staffing remaining stagnant.

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