The market for worldwide IT services grew 6.7% to $607.8 billion (R3 646 billion) in 2004, but the weakened dollar exchange rate means that in real terms growth may only have been 2.2%, says research firm Gartner.
The US currency has been losing ground against most of its major contemporaries.
Gartner says IBM continues to lead the worldwide IT services industry, as it accounted for 7.6% of global sales. Accenture showed the strongest growth among the top six vendors, as its revenue increased 16.4%.
"Outsourcing was the growth driver for IBM and HP in 2004, while Accenture experienced equivalent increases in both the outsourcing and consulting segments," says Kathryn Hale, principal analyst for Gartner`s worldwide IT services group.
"Computer Sciences and EDS each have a strong concentration of revenue in the US, which impacted global growth for both companies in a year the dollar declined."
Fujitsu`s outsourcing business grew in Europe, Middle East and Africa, but the weak economic recovery in Japan and the impact of the company`s restructuring efforts resulted in a growth rate slightly below the industry average, Gartner says.
Preliminary worldwide IT services vendors by revenue estimates (millions of US dollars)
TABLE
Source: Gartner Dataquest (February 2005)
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