Brazilian IT industry grows above world average
The Brazilian IT industry has grown 9.5 percent in 2015, according to an IDC study commissioned by the Brazilian Association of Software Companies (ABES).
According to the research, the growth seen in the Brazilian IT industry is way higher than the world average of 5.6 percent. Brazil is now the sixth largest IT market in the world, behind the UK, Germany, Japan, China, and the US.
Despite challenges related to currency fluctuations in relation to the dollar -- which resulted in a slight revenue drop to $59.9 billion last year in comparison to the $60 billion in 2014 -- end users continued to invest in technology to drive more efficiency, cost savings, productivity, and to become more competitive.
The study adds that companies focused on software investments and represented $12.3 billion of the total invested by users in 2015, a 30.2 percent increase in relation to the prior year. Hardware sales reached $33.4 billion (up 6.3 percent) and IT services saw a 8.2 percent increase with sales reaching $14.3 billion.
Within Latin America, Brazil is still the largest market, representing 45 percent of the $133 billion spent in IT in the region, says the study.
In terms of future trends, predictions that stood out in the report include the rise in mobile payments, which should increase by 30 percent in 2016. In addition, the Internet of Things segment should generate $4.1 billion in Brazil this year, according to the report.
Some 54 percent of medium and large companies in Brazil will also be investing in digital transformation projects, the ABES report points out. The research predicts that overall, the Brazilian IT industry should grow by 3 percent compared with a world average of 2.5 percent in 2016.