Aussie Software in Demand
Tuesday 23 February 2010 | Jeanne-Vida Douglas
A recent deal between Yeahpoint and Singtel is typical of how Australian software companies are making headway in Asia
Selling software to India, or the high-tech stores into Singapore, may well be the contemporary equivalent of selling ice to the Eskimos, but there are a handful of Australian software developers and technology companies that are gaining ground in these apparently unlikely markets.
Brisbane-based digital media company Yeahpoint has secured a deal with Singtel that involves extensive use of wireless networking, touch-screen and projector technology, much of which has been custom built.
Dollar for dollar, Australia now exports more telecommunications computing and technology services than it does in wool, but few investors and even fewer politicians have any handle on the size or scope of the sector.
Revenues accruing to the software sector in particular are routinely underestimates but the government because they are drawn from customs declarations and exclude software imported or exported via the internet.
Australian software developers are nonetheless continuing to develop new export markets, especially targeting areas like artificial intelligence or web-based development tools.
After focusing on the Australian and New Zealand markets for 22 years, Susan Hyland, the chief executive of software company Mastersoft Research, relaunched an updated version of the company's customer database management software designed specifically for export markets.
Since February 2009 she has been actively developing opportunities on the Indian subcontinent and says opportunities abound for Australian information technology exporters that can cater to the requirements of this rapidly developing nation.
"India is known for its very large IT outsourcing companies, but in many cases these companies are focused on exports and have not developed products for their own market," Hyland says. "The Indian domestic market is actually far more mature than the Chinese market, it's an English-speaking country and these is actually lots of demand for software that will help the country develop and manage its resources."
Thanks to companies like Mastersoft and Yeahpoint, as well as the other export-oriented software developers including Altassian, Inference and Technology One, Australians are managing to keep a presence in a sector that have been the principal driver for productivity growth across the global economy over the past two decades.
While the resources sector still provides much economic growth in Australia, success in areas like IT not only enable the economy to diversify, thereby spreading risk, it also provides local business with access to world-class software applications and support, enhancing growth and increasing productivity across all other sectors of the economy.
