ICT Spending In META Forecast To Be $229 Billion In 2022

Overall spending on information and communications technology (ICT) across the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa (META) will top $229 billion this year, an increase of 2.7% over 2021 as the market continues to rebound from the turbulence of the last two years.

That’s according to the latest predictions presented by International Data Corporation (IDC) as over 420 senior executives from the region’s most influential technology vendors, telecommunications operators, and IT service providers gathered online this week for the latest virtual instalment of IDC Directions Middle East, Turkey & Africa.

International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets.

Spending On IT To Grow

Announcing its regional forecasts for 2022, IDC said it expects telecommunications spending to increase 3.2% year on year (Y-o-Y) to $137 billion, with IT spending set to grow 2% Y-o-Y to reach $92 billion. Intriguingly, IDC expects enterprise IT spending to see strong Y-o-Y growth of 7% in 2022 to cross the $40.2 billion mark – and spending on digital transformation (DX) initiatives in the post-pandemic period is forecast to grow as a share of enterprise IT spending from 26% in 2020 to 38% in 2024.

“ICT spending across the META region has been largely resilient and mostly running counter to the economic situation throughout the pandemic,” says Jyoti Lalchandani, IDC’s group vice president and managing director for the META region.

“The need for contactless services, accelerated digitalization of operations, and the rise of digital business models had all contributed to this resilience. Organizations across the region have significantly accelerated their digital road maps as a result of the pandemic, some by two years or more, and many have shifted to a digital-first strategy, aggressively leveraging technologies such as cloud, AI, digital infrastructure, IoT, and security, among others,” he said.

“Organizations are now realizing the benefits and impact of this digital acceleration. Indeed, our research shows that nearly 60% of medium-sized to large organizations in the META region have seen an increase in cost efficiencies through digitalization. While 47% have introduced new digitally augmented products and services and 46% have realized increased value from their data through new insights and enhanced decision making – in some cases, generating new revenue streams. The impact of accelerated digital transformation is here to stay,” Jyoti Lalchandani averred.

Opening proceedings at this year’s virtual edition of IDC Directions Middle East, Turkey & Africa with a session entitled “Unlocking Opportunities in the Digital-First World: META Regional Outlook,” Lalchandani outlined IDC’s predictions for 2022.

The key highlights included spending on security (hardware, software, and services) will grow 7% to top $3.76 billion, spending on public cloud services will grow 27.3% to surpass $6.8 billion, SaaS apps will account for 41% of public cloud software spending, followed by IaaS at 29%, systems infrastructure SaaS at 18%, and PaaS at 12%. Spending on Artificial Intelligence will grow 24.7% to total $1.2 billion, RPA software will grow 47.5% to cross $159 million and on Big Data analytics will grow at 8.1% to reach $3 billion.

Revenues from Digital Products

In his key-note address, IDC’s global president, Crawford Del Prete, revealed that one in two companies worldwide will generate more than 40% of their revenues from digital products and services by 2023.

However, he warned that many organizations will struggle to navigate an increasingly digital-first world and served up some essential guidance on strategies for success.

“A recent global IDC study shows that 79% of organizations worldwide have shifted to a digital-first strategy as a result of the pandemic,” he said.

He further said: “Many organizations are struggling, with 50% still trying to figure out exactly what it means for them or only now just starting to execute. For those organizations looking to embed digital into everything they do as an IT buyer, our survey revealed some interesting insights from those that are already succeeding in this quest.”

“Over 75% of these digital-first afficionados are driving innovation processes based on software and leveraging customer-engagement processes designed with privacy and data management and analysis technologies at their core. At the same time, over 70% of them are designing their physical facilities with a wireless-first approach and introducing new operations processes based on remote-first designs, thereby enabling the remote monitoring, diagnosis, and management of assets and processes,” Del Prete added.