Philippines IT spend up 11 percent in 2014, says IDC
The Philippines is looking at a healthy ICT spending uptick this year, lifted by a rosy outlook in the country's economic indicators and consumer spending, according to IDC.
This will translate to a total of US$6.76 billion in total IT spending. Of this, spending on hardware will take about 76 percent, while software and services account for 7 percent and 18 percent, respectively.
Spending will particularly be boosted by mobile devices, with an expected increase of 22 percent on smartphones and 40 percent on tablets. Smartphones alone will constitute 25 percent, continuing its grip of the overall IT budget, which was traditionally held by laptops and desktops, said the research firm.
The younger segment of the population make up the new workforce and see the need to be constantly connected," pointed out Jubert Alberto, research manager of IDC Philippines. "They have the utmost need to be connected, updated, informed and entertained. In most cases, they also have lower number of dependents. All these characteristics point to stronger demand for anything mobile, whether devices, services or applications."
Apart from devices, ICT spending will be heavily impacted by mobility, cloud, big data/analytics and social business, said IDC. Usage of these technologies is being driven by the need of companies for new and effective ways to market and reach out to targeted customers, it added.
Almost 60 percent of the companies in the Philippines will be more aggressive in their IT expenditure in the coming 12 months compared to a year ago, based on a recent IDC survey, said Alberto.