Springboard leaps into Australian IT market research

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 27 February 2007 08:17

IT Industry - Market

Startup IT market research firm, Springboard, has opened an office in Australia with former IDC Asia/Pacific research director for the services marketplace Phil Hassey as country manager for Australia and New Zealand.

He will report to Springboard's CEO & EVP of research and cofounder Dane Anderson and will also be responsible for Springboard's IT & business services research globally.

The company has no immediate plans to add additional staff in Australia. Hassey told iTWire, "At the moment we need to get some revenue but over time we will be looking to expand..I will be doing the research with support from the Singapore office on sales."

A key initial focus he said would be an examination of offshore outsourcing vendors and comparing them with companies such as IBM and Accenture. "Another area is the productisation of the services market which is very dynamic at the moment...Vendors looking to making their offerings having more commonality and at being repeatable and easier to sell...No one has really covered this so there is a gap there for me to fill."

Hassey has more than 11 years experience in the IT, commercial property and financial services sectors, with a focus on corporate strategy and market intelligence. Before joining IDC he worked in corporate strategy, marketing and research at Accenture, and Lend Lease.

Springboard was founded in late 2003 in Singapore by two former IDC executives, Anderson and Chris Perrine. The company claims to be "the first true alternative IT market research firm of the 21st century... founded on the premise that existing market research was inefficient, lacked depth and was not flexible enough to meet the IT markets' growing business needs."

It claims to "analyse the full spectrum of the IT market, with specialisations in software, services, vertical markets and emerging sectors." Its range of services includes: custom research; primary research/data collection; ongoing market tracking and quick, actionable market research.