Information and communications technology (ICT) spending in South Africa is forecast to grow by 2,6% year-on-year to R26,6bn in 2016.

This is according to International Data Corp (IDC), which says that mobile devices will largely be responsible for growth in this sector.

The local ICT market is also forging ahead despite a challenging economic outlook in which South Africa’s gross domestic product is forecast to grow less than 2% for 2015.

“I think we need to look at it in context of the slowing economy,” says Lise Hagen, IDC’s research manager for software and IT services in Africa.

“Overall, obviously times are tough; people are extending those buying cycles again. They really are sweating their assets.

“But they’re also swapping some of their tin for cloud services. So, there’s all these opportunities, even in a market like this,” Hagen says.

Explaining the factors behind the 2,6% growth for the ICT market, IDC says that mobility along with cloud, big data analytics, social business and internet of things are being tapped in the market as part of digital transformation efforts to streamline costs and boost flexibility.

IDC further says that cost optimisation efforts and a lack of skills are expected to drive up demand for security services.

The research organisation further adds that the “proliferation of Internet of things technologies will push concerns around privacy and physical security to the top of ICT agendas”. — Fin24