Change of pace

The constant state of flux that exists in the IT industry makes putting together a special edition like this a more difficult task than it might first appear. A quick look back at the MIS Strategic 100 for 2007 gives a good indication of this. BEA Systems has since been acquired by Oracle, Cognos has been bought out by IBM and EDS has become a HP company.

Change, it seems, is the only constant. Yahoo! managed to wriggle free of Microsoft's clutches in the great on-off corporate romance of the year and avoided becoming another consolidation statistic, although with the benefit of hindsight it's easy to question the wisdom of its refusal to sell out. Yahoo! shares are trading on the Nasdaq at a little over $US12 as I write this, having been worth more than $30 just a year earlier. Chief executive Jerry Yang is more likely to receive hate mail than Christmas cards this year from his major shareholders.

Even as the final deadline for the 2008 edition of MIS Strategic 100 approached (and then passed), we had one local company announcing it was shedding hundreds of jobs, while another was expected to offer some insight into the impact of the recently released Gershon review into IT spending at its annual general meeting.

Unfortunately, you have to draw the line somewhere, so we can only offer a shrug of resignation if you read something in the following pages that has changed since we went to press. That's the nature of the beast.

But what you will definitely find as you read on is a valuable collection of snapshots that offer insight into the progress of leading global, local and start-up IT companies during the past 12 months, as well as thoughts on where they are focusing attention in the year ahead.

As 2008 draws to a close and attentions turn to 2009, you can be sure that MIS remains dedicated to keeping you abreast of major industry news and providing meaningful insight into how it will affect your business.

Brian Corrigan
Editor, MIS Australia
BCorrigan@afr.com.au

A new world order

M&A activity continued unabated, despite the global downturn that characterised the second half of the year. Computing clouds are gathering on the horizon, as are new challenges that will confront established market leaders. Read more 

How we selected: The 50 companies profiled in the following pages 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 30 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 cast of local players. 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 were made by our expert judges throughout the Asia-Pacific region and following discussions with MIS editorial teams internationally.

Content for special edtion overview

Content for special edtion judging