EMEA IT spending to grow 1.4% in 2013

IT spending in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) will reach $1.154 trillion in 2013, a 1.4% increase from 2012 projected spending of $1.138 trillion, according to Gartner, Inc. Despite the ongoing economic malaise, Gartner sees pockets of growth in IT in Europe, mainly driven by devices and software. Big data will also change the landscape of IT - creating new jobs. “This year is a pessimistic year for IT spending in Europe,” said Peter Sondergaard, senior vice president at Gartner and global head of Research. “In 2012, we estimate that IT spending will decline 3.6% in EMEA and 5.9% in Western Europe. However, the EMEA region will return to growth in 2013 and continue to grow through 2016 when spending will reach $1.247 trillion.” “The mobile device market is currently the bright spot of the IT industry,” said Mr. Sondergaard. “We are seeing tablets and smartphones significantly outpace purchases of traditional PCs.” Gartner estimates that spending on mobile devices (notebook PCs, mobile phones, ultramobiles and tablets) in EMEA will amount to $136bn in 2012, reaching $188bn in 2016. In Western Europe, both consumers and businesses are adding tablets to their portfolio of mobile devices - increasing the total mobile device market growth by 8% in 2012. This contrasts with a decline of 5% in the mobile PC market in Western Europe. In Eastern Europe and the Middle East and Africa, mobile phone shipments will dominate the market, with tablet adoption increasing through to 2016. By 2016, two-thirds of the workforce will have a smartphone or tablet device. This will change the way consumers buy software and transform the market. Traditional software providers will have to rewrite their applications for these tablet-based environments, and there will be a strong increase in software spending. Gartner estimates that EMEA IT spending in software will grow 3.1% in 2013, nearly reaching the $100bn mark in 2016. Over the next three years, together with the North America and Japan, EMEA will be the most active region in using big data. By 2015, 4.4 million IT jobs will be created globally to support big data, creating 1.3 million IT jobs in EMEA, including 1.2 million IT jobs in Western Europe alone. However, public education systems, as well as training within companies, are not sufficient to satisfy that demand. “We expect that organizations will be unable to fill out these positions, and we estimate that only 31% of the IT jobs will be filled in Western Europe. It places a requirement on our education systems and on companies to start to train those roles. We need these kinds of roles across all businesses to analyze data and information, which will ultimately generate new revenue,” said Mr. Sondergaard.