Small and medium-sized businesses are beginning to step up information technology spending as an improving economy encourages companies to invest.
'We're seeing increasing optimism in the market and among our customers as the level of business activity increases,' said Patrick Poon, IBM's China/Hong Kong executive for global mid-market business.
Globally, the company's first-half revenue from small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) grew 11 per cent over the previous year.
It is a market IT vendors can hardly afford to ignore. IDC estimates SMBs in the Asia-Pacific region excluding Japan will spend US$29.7 billion this year, up 14.4 per cent from last year.
IDC analyst Lau Tong-yen forecasts the segment will outpace overall market growth through 2008.
Most of this year's spending will be on hardware, but IT services are expected to overtake hardware and software expenditure, growing 15 per cent annually through 2008.