Where is the core?

But how many companies actually know where their core competencieslie? In Asia Pacific, large chunks of commerce are done amongconglomerates. Each conglomerate has several revenue streams that areall important to its bottomline.

Dissecting each business into what's core and what is not iscumbersome, and at times costly. Besides, a fast-moving businessclimate brought about by globalisation augments spreading a company'srisks across different industries and businesses. Putting all yourbets on one core can be risky.

Instead, companies want outsourcing partners who will provide ITinfrastructure and services, and appreciate that business is gettingmore and more fluid.

The good news is that service providers are listening - finally. Afterseveral failed attempts, service providers are ganging up. "They arebecoming service aggregators which provide a multitude of services fora multitude of needs," says Leong Han Kong, chairman of ASP AllianceChapter (AAC), which is part of the Singapore Information TechnologyFoundation - an industry watchdog for the local infocomm industry.