Springboard Links with Japanese Agency

IT-focused Springboard Research has allied with Japan's Nork Research, specialist in the IT needs of small- and medium businesses (SMBs). The deal will result in a series of joint SMB-focused reports and client studies, and in Nork's working as a reseller for Springboard's syndicated research.

The reports will be in English and will be based on data collected from Nork's on-going annual surveys of several thousand SMBs in Japan. The client studies will also cover emerging software paradigms and business models, including SOA (Services Oriented Architecture) and SaaS (Software-as-a-Service), and general Asia Pacific IT market trends, and will commence with a comprehensive study on the status of SaaS business models and acceptance in Japan.

Springboard has already worked on a number of projects with Nork and has found its work to be 'of unusually high quality' according to Springboard CEO Dane Anderson, who adds: 'We are extremely pleased to announce this new partnership which will provide us with privileged access to one of fastest-growing segments in the Japanese IT market.'

Founded in 1998 by Kenji Ishima, a veteran of Yano Research, Nork is also a founding member of the Syszo (or 'system warehouse') IT information exchange web portal, which is sponsored by major IT firms like NEC, Hitachi and HP Japan.

According to Ishima, his firm's focus will remain on the Japanese SMB market, but 'this new partnership with Springboard Research will provide us with better access to emerging trends in the worldwide IT market and is crucial to our future development.'

Founded in 2004, Springboard Research has offices in the USA, Australia, Singapore and Japan, global research centers in India and Pakistan and a web site at www.springboardresearch.com. Nork is online at www.norkresearch.co.jp.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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