MENA Region IT Spending to Reach $155.8 Billion in 2017

MENA Region IT Spending to Reach $155.8 Billion in 2017
Fotolia

Middle East and North Africa (MENA) IT spending is projected to reach $155.8 billion in 2017 a 2.4 percent increase from 2016, according to the latest forecast by Gartner. The devices segment will represent nearly 17 percent of total IT spending in 2017. This market is expected to grow 4 percent this year, mainly due to a strong increase in mobile phone expenditure. Other devices (which include PCs) are forecast for negative growth.

Data center systems will see an overall growth of 6 percent in 2017, versus flat performance in 2016, due to increase in demand for servers and unified communications. Software spending is forecast to increase 9 percent, with enterprise application software projected to grow 13 percent and infrastructure software spending to increase 6 percent.IT services will post 4 percent growth, with business IT services reaching nearly 5 percent growth this year. Consumer mobile services will represent close to 60 percent of the total expenditures in communication services.

“The MENA region is moving in the right digital direction, where demand for the latest and most emerging technologies like Blockchain will continue to reflect the profound changes the IT markets are experiencing. The growing and influential role of business leaders toward embracing technologies and processes such as cloud, business intelligence (BI), analytics, customer relationship management (CRM), digital business and marketing, are contributing to fuel digital transformation,“ said Peter Sondergaard, senior vice president and global head of Research at Gartner.

Middle East & North Africa- IT Spending Estimates (Billions of U.S. Dollars)

 

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

Devices

24.8

25.9

27.4

28.3

29.3

Data Center Systems

4.4

4.7

4.8

4.9

5.1

Software

5.2

5.6

6.2

6.9

7.5

IT Services

10.6

11.1

11.6

12.1

12.7

Communication Services

107.2

108.6

111.0

112.7

114.2

Total Market

152.2

155.8

161.0

165.0

168.8

Source: Gartner

CIOs will participate in the building of a new digital platform with intelligence at the center. That platform will enable ecosystems, connecting businesses and collapsing industries. Gartner analysts said it will change society itself, and the way people live.

The new digital platform consists of five domains: traditional IT systems, customer experience, The Internet of Things (IoT), an ecosystem foundation and the intelligence platform that ties all the domains together. Many industry models will transform with digital ecosystems. Moving from simple relationships run by intermediaries toward distributed partnerships possibly managed by a shared distributed ledger system like blockchain. Building a strong ecosystem will help you manage these dynamic interactions. Ecosystems are the future of digital.