2014 – A bigger prize

The good news is that 2014 should turn out to be a better year for suppliers of software and IT services (SITS) to the UK market than 2013 – in fact, even better than we had forecast this time last year. Indeed we expect the UK SITS market to grow by 2% in 2014 – about 25% faster than we expected a year ago – adding over £850m of net new spend.

But we temper this good news with the view that, in real terms (i.e. eliminating the effects of inflation), the UK SITS market will barely grow over the next few years. In fact, by 2017 we expect that the UK SITS market will only be the same size as it was in 2012 although at the headline level the market will appear to be 12% larger.

But whichever way you want to look at it, the ‘pie’ may be getting a little bigger, but the fight for a slice will be just as fierce – if not fiercer.

In our keynote UK SITS Market Trends and Forecast 2014 report published today, we explain how the Race for Change theme that we introduced at the beginning of the year (see Predictions 2014—Race for Change) is playing out. This is a race in which we predicted that all suppliers—especially large-scale ‘generalists’—will be compelled to pick up pace in order to meet increasingly demanding requirements from their customers, while confronting more specialised—and usually cheaper—niche competitors and startups. Those suppliers that can’t keep up will fall by the wayside.

In UK SITS Market Trends and Forecast 2014, we look at the trends and opportunities in the key market segments (Enterprise Software, Application Services, Infrastructure Services, and Business Process Services) and in two key verticals – Public Sector and Financial Services – which together are responsible for half the market spend. Plus we include our highly respected estimates for the size and growth of the UK SITS market, also available as an XL download.

UK SITS Market Trends and Forecast 2014 complements our recently published UK Software and IT Services Rankings 2014 report, in which we rank the leading suppliers of software and IT services to the UK market.  Together, these reports give suppliers and other ‘stakeholders’ in the UK SITS market the essential foundation to understand which way the market is heading and who is leading the race.

UK SITS Market Trends and Forecast 2014 and UK Software and IT Services Rankings 2014 are available for download now for eligible TechMarketView subscription service clients. If you are not yet on the racetrack, then contact Deborah Seth on our client services team who will lead you to the starting gate.

Posted by HotViews Editor at '10:05'