São Paulo – The Middle East’s Information Technology (IT) market should grow by 9.6% a year until 2015, when it will reach a turnover of US$ 5.2 billion, according to a study released this week by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry. According to the study, governments are the main drivers of the sector’s growth in the Middle East.
“Several regional governments, such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt are acting to implement electronic governance at offices, schools and universities, thus driving the growth of the market. Another important factor is increased demand for IT services caused by rapid growth of small and medium businesses in the Middle East,” according to the report.
In 2011, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates were the leading markets for the sector in the region, with turnovers of US$ 1.5 billion and US$ 1 billion, respectively. The two countries combined have accounted for 70% of all IT spending in Arab countries. Kuwait and Egypt are also major IT markets, having spent a combined US$ 50 million on IT services last year.
The study claims that usage of IT services is on the rise across the Middle East, because said services help significantly reduce total costs for organizations. The Dubai Chamber report shows that increased usage of services such as development of customized software, IT consulting, application development and maintenance, database and implementation, and system integration services for the public sector and large corporations are driving the industry in the region.
The study also shows that some global suppliers of IT suppliers have joined Middle East suppliers, while major oil, manufactured goods, and communication services have begun outsourcing IT services to their suppliers. “The outsourcing of IT services helps shorten product development cycles and enables the swift introduction of products in the market. Thus, the expansion of outsourcing in the Middle East should continue,” the study claims.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
