A new global update

The annual MIS Strategic 100 condenses a year's worth of wheeling, dealing and product innovation into digestible morsels, keeping you up to date with what the global giants have been doing, what the most influential local players are planning and who are the new companies starting to make a splash.

Just as in past years, the scramble to make the lists has been an interesting to oversee. Hundreds of IT vendors understandably think that they should be included in any publication that tells CIOs all about such businesses, so we have made every effort to choose the correct companies. We have an expanded panel of judges this year that incorporates 28 experts from across the Asia-Pacific region, whose votes help determine the companies that deserve your attention.

Despite consolidation being one of the major themes in the wider scheme of the IT industry, there are still plenty of companies performing well and providing CIOs with options to genuinely improve their businesses' processes and prospects. It is certainly pleasing to see the growing number of local companies springing up and becoming worthy of a profile in our Rising Stars 25.

It seems unlikely that we will see a global giant heralding from these shores any time soon, however. Services companies make up a lot of the best performing local IT firms and hungry private equity firms are hovering and ready to pick off any tasty local prey that appears to be fattening up nicely.

But whatever happens, rest assured that MIS will keep its eagle eyes on the IT industry again over the next 12 months, so you won't have to.

Enjoy the issue.

Paul Smith, editor MIS

Fast movers, global shakers

It's been a year of acquisitions and realigning strategies to keep up with a range of trends from virtualisation to the rise of green ICT and Web 2.0. This year's MIS Strategic 100 list reflects these major shifts, Divina Paredes and Paul Smith write. Read more 

How we selected: The 50 companies profiled in the following table are the ones CIOs cannot afford to ignore. They are the big players, those that influence the buying patterns around Australia and the rest of the world. They will be in CIOs’ minds whenever they have potential purchasing decisions to make, no matter what their areas of expertise. To qualify for the list, the companies must have a significant presence in the Australian market and derive a large portion of their revenue from outside their domestic markets. These companies were selected by a panel of 28 judges across the Asia-Pacific region.

How we selected: There is a vibrant and increasingly competitive local IT sector, so the Strategic 100 has dedicated these pages entirely to Australian- and New Zealand-based vendors. The fierce competition to make it onto the list of the most strategically important operators in the region has certainly proved impressive. Our expert judging panel chose the following 25 from an extensive list of local players because they are organisations that display an impressive regional business focus as well as often performing well on foreign shores. These companies were selected by the Australian-based judges.

How we selected: The 25 Rising Stars are often very new businesses, but ones that show signs of seriously influencing the way technology is bought or deployed. Many of these companies can expect rapid growth, to make acquisitions, be acquired, or otherwise significantly increase their presence in the marketplace over the next 12 months. This is an early warning to take note of companies that are already impressing savvy CIOs. The list was compiled after suggestions from our expert judges throughout the Asia-Pacific region and discussions with MIS editorial teams internationally.

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