Asia Pacific buyers of IT services and products seem to be hesitating on new purchasing commitments as the region appears to have been negatively impacted by the current global economic conditions, according to a new report just published.

Worldwide economic uncertainty caused a softening in the global optical components market with a contraction of 0.2 per cent sequentially in the third quarter this year and a drop in OC industry revenues for the three months to $1.57 billion.

IT hiring managers are cautiously optimistic about the year ahead with many of them expecting to take on new staff over the next 12 months, with the intention to hire more likely with medium sized companies less reliant on cost restraint due to the global economic uncertainty.

As the federal government announces spending cuts in its mini-budget, will the public servants who implement government policy chance their arm at real productivity improvements enabled by technology, asks one analyst firm, or will they will just implement yet another round of slashing running costs?

The Victorian Government is seemingly frenetic at the moment as it pursues its goal of establishing Victoria as Australia’s technology hub, trotting out announcement after announcement about new initiatives, or investment in the state, by ICT companies. And, New South Wales is up there too, competing vigorously with its Victorian rival and, for that matter, every other state or territory.

With tough economic conditions continuing, governments around the world are predicted to respond to the more austere times by turning to cloud computing, along with data analytics, which analysts predict will attract an ‘explosion’ of interest from governments in 2012.

Australians, it seems, have gravitated to group buying sites in increasing numbers in the tough economic times of late, as many of them deal with the reality of having less disposable income and are more cautious with their spending.

Asia Pacific demand for electronic data systems by the pharmaceutical industry is set to increase significantly now that companies in the sector have recovered after weathering the impact on their businesses from the global recession.

A new outsourcing industry body has been launched this week, vowing to be the leader in facilitating debate on policy reform in the ICT sector, and signalling its intent to “fearlessly” engage government and industry on a wide range of public policy issues facing the ICT sector.

The telecoms industry is showing strong signs of recovery from global financial woes, with revenues back on track following weak performances last year and growing carrier confidence in undertaking business initiatives previously delayed be the downturn.