Pandemic Drives US Enterprise Spending on Telecoms, Cloud and DaaS

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed a huge burden on US businesses to become flexible, agile, and safe, according to Strategy Analytics. Digitalization is accelerating as a result, forcing businesses to rethink traditional ways of working and shaping investment priorities.

Strategy Analytics interviewed more than 300 IT decision makers (ITDM) across 9 vertical markets in the U.S. The survey identified trends, and the future direction enterprises plan to take, regarding their approach to mobile strategy and investment.

COVID-19 has proved a catalyst for investment in technologies that will help them navigate the post pandemic world, with a ramp in spending evident on cloud computing, DaaS (Device-as-a-Service) and IoT, as well as investment in 5G and Wi-Fi6. The study found that One in three US businesses will increase Telecom spending/budget between 1-5% in the next 2 years. One in fiveITDMs (IT Decision Makers) expect IT spending will increase by more than 10% inthe next 2 years.

WFH rates jumped +9 points due to COVID-19. WFH is defined as working from home at more than 20% of the time. One quarter of US employees spend 2 days or more per week video conferencing. Almost half of US companies have budgeted for DaaS. Microsoft, Google, and Apple top the chart as key DaaS providers. Almost one third of US companies are very familiar with Mobile Private Networking (MPN) and one in four are very familiar with Network Slicing.

“US companies want mobile devices and business mobile apps that create actual, shared engagement regardless of location more than ever . Company paid corporate liable smartphones given to employees has increased +13 points over the pandemic, with core technologies such as Cloud, DaaS, Blockchain, 5G, AI, facilitating the move to WFH/Hybrid working environments,“ said Gina Luk, Associate Director of Mobile Workforce Strategies at Strategy Analytics.

Andrew Brown, Executive Director of Enterprise Research at Strategy Analytics added, “Software is continuously moving to the cloud among US businesses, especially Data, IoT and File Sharing related software. 5G is also ramping fast among US Businesses. There is an opportunity for US operators to monetize 5G, with 30% of businesses planning to integrate 5G within the next 1 year.“