2012-09-06 08:43:10 - South Africa Information Technology Report Q1 2012 - a new market research report on companiesandmarkets.com

BMI expects South African IT spending to increase from US$11.9bn in 2012 to about US$20.0bn in 2016, faster than real GDP growth. Major infrastructure and transport projects will provide encouragement for growth during BMIs five-year forecast period. However, South African businesses are expected to maintain a cautious attitude to IT investments, due to continued global economic uncertainty.

The 2012-2016 South Africa IT market compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is projected to be in the region of 13%, as a number of major IT infrastructure projects generate spending at provincial levels. A projected improvement in South Africas broadband infrastructure and international bandwidth will also be an important market growth driver and will help drive demand for cloud computing solutions.

Industry Developments

 

 

The South African Department of Education has announced a target of rolling out laptops to all school children in the country by 2014. The government is looking at various ways to achieve this, including the use of portable mobile computer labs for schools where there is no infrastructure. This followed the launch, also in 2010, of the Teacher Laptop Initiative, which should encourage PC procurements by schools across the country.
Meanwhile, the IFMS (Integrated Financial Management Systems) project manages the evolution of government IT systems to support interoperability and e-government service development. The project, supervised by the State Information Technology Agency (SITA), involves the integration and migration of government finance, HR, asset management, logistics and other business solutions into a single distributed system.
Competitive Landscape

In 2011, IT services firms will target the emerging cloud computing opportunity, which has attracted a number of players into the market. In 2011, IBM said that South Africa would become only the fourth country in the world to host both an IBM datacentre and a cloud laboratory. Meanwhile, new telecoms service provider ARC Telecoms has signed cloud services delivery agreements with telecoms carriers such as Telkom and Vodacom.

Indian IT vendor Wipro said in November 2011 that it is setting up a 1,000 seat delivery centre in South Africa. The company already has an office in Johannesburg with more than 500 people onsite and offsite servicing its clients there and the new centre is expected to create jobs for an additional 1,000 people. In its fiscal year ending June 2011, South African IT giant Gijima reported earnings of ZAR2,566mn, down 12.8% from ZAR2,943mn in its previous fiscal year. The companys performance was impaired by a settlement with the Department of Home Affairs. However, Gijimas Managed Services division achieved 8% growth in revenues.
Computer Sales South Africas computer hardware market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 8.3% over BMIs five-year forecast period from an estimated US$5.2bn in 2012 to US$8.3bn in 2016. Following a strong recovery in PC shipments in 2011, growth is expected to slow in 2012, as consumer confidence is affected by concerns about the economic recovery.

The main growth drivers during BMIs five-year forecast period include rising computer penetration, falling prices and vendor and retailer promotions, as well as the popularity of notebook computers and ultra-light products. In the past few years, falling prices have boosted PC unit shipments, along with aggressive retail promotions.
Software The software market is forecast at around US$2.3mn in 2012 and, despite current economic headwinds, is projected to have a CAGR of around 15% over the 2012-2016 period. South Africas software market is developing, despite the problem of software piracy, which still accounts for about 35% of software. The growing regional ambitions of South African companies will be a factor driving corporate spending on software, but vendors will have to meet increasing demand for vertical-specific applications. Enterprise resource planning remains the most popular enterprise software application with South African businesses, with a growing number of them now using this tool. Despite their difficulties accessing credit, South African small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), facing change and seeking efficiencies, are likely to represent an opportunity.

IT Services

The South African IT services market is projected at around US$4.4bn in 2012 and is expected to grow to around US$7.6bn in 2016. Major infrastructure and transport projects should provide a framework for faster spending growth during the forecast period.

Spending on IT services still depends heavily on government programmes and the government will remain the largest spending IT services vertical, followed by financial services and telecoms. Cloud computing is becoming viable in South Africa due to improved and lower-cost bandwidth availability.

E-Readiness

Internet penetration in South Africa is by far the highest on the continent, although broadband penetration remains low. In the small business sector, some progress is being made. According to a 2008 survey, 63% of smaller companies using computers to connect to the internet now have a DSL internet connection, exactly the proportion using dial-up five years ago.

Despite the opportunities, prospects for the IT market remain constrained by high communication costs and uneven infrastructure development. The government launched a series of initiatives to tackle this issue, but there are doubts about whether the government has the will to tackle the key question of termination rates and pricing implications.

The South African broadband market will become increasingly dynamic over the next five years. One development that is expected to shake up the market is the inauguration of various undersea cables, which will reduce the cost of bandwidth. Other developments expected to provide the broadband market with a major stimulus include local loop unbundling – to be introduced in phases over several years – and the deployment of new network infrastructures to rival Telkoms national network. The price of this market report covers 4 quarterly reports on this sector. This quarterly report will be downloadable instantly as a PDF document, with the 3 remaining reports delivered at regular intervals throughout the year.

Click for report details: www.companiesandmarkets.com/Market/Information-Technology/Market ..

Browse all Information Technology Market Research Reports www.companiesandmarkets.com/Market/Information-Technology/Market ..

Browse all Information Technology Company Profile Reports www.companiesandmarkets.com/Market/Information-Technology/Compan ..

Browse all Latest Market Research Reports www.companiesandmarkets.com/Market/All/Market-Research?aCode=f3f ..

About Us
Companiesandmarkets.com is a leading online business information aggregator with over 300,000 market reports and company profiles available to our clients. Our extensive range of reports are sourced from the leading publishers of business information and provide clients with the widest range of information available. In terms of company profiles, Companiesandmarkets.com’s online database allows clients access to market and corporate information to over 100,000 different companies. We provide clients with a fully indexed database of information where clients can find specific market reports on their niche industry sectors of interest.