IT spending in SA will rebound strongly this year to hit $14.4 billion, as growth in the sector will more than outstrip total economic gains.
SA's economy grew 2.6% quarter-on-quarter during the third quarter of last year, slightly lower than the 2.8% growth experienced in the second quarter, according to the latest available figures from Statistics SA.
Cees Bruggemans, First National Bank's chief economist, expects gross domestic product growth to quicken next year to between 3.3% to 3.5%, from an anticipated final figure of 2.8% for 2010. Bruggemans adds growth will speed up further in 2012.
Local IT spending will come in at more than double the expected GDP growth as companies start spending on infrastructure again after holding off on ICT refreshments during the recent global recession.
IDC estimates $13.4 billion was spent on IT, excluding telecoms, in SA last year. This figure is predicted to leap by $1 billion this year. IDC expects IT spending on the African continent to grow 10%, to touch $25 billion, during the course of this year.
Gartner says global IT spending increased 5.1% this year to hit $3.6 trillion. The research house says $3.4 trillion was spent on IT globally last year, a 5.4% improvement on 2009. Gartner has raised its outlook for 2011 global IT spending from its previous forecast of 3.5% after a better-than-expected performance last year.
New opportunities
Hannes Fourie, senior analyst of systems and infrastructure solutions at research house IDC, says 2011 will be the first full year of true growth in IT spending in SA, and new markets will open up.
Among the drivers will be a return to investing in infrastructure, which had been put on hold during the recession period, as well as a move towards cloud computing, he says. Hardware will grow the fastest, followed by software and then services, adds Fourie.
SA's IT spending will grow at 7.5% this year, which is a decline in percentage terms on 2010's growth of 8.7%. However, Fourie points out that last year's growth was off an exceptionally low base as investment contracted 3.7% during 2009.
Spending in 2010 would also have benefited from Soccer World Cup-related investment in the first quarter, adds Fourie. Investment slowed during the second and third quarters before picking up again towards the end of the third quarter, and during the last part of the year, he adds.
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