Trends, Growth& Developments in the IT sector

The face of IT is changing and we have reached a tipping point where cognitive computing, cloud computing, big data analytics, and the rapidly growing Internet of Things (IoT) are transforming businesses across the globe. The level of disruption and the rate of change driven by modern technology is exponential.

Driven by many developments and innovations including advancements in computer processing power, data storage; enterprise mobility; the ubiquity of bandwidth; the industry has enabled myriad opportunities that once seemed impossible, both economically and technologically. Shifting toward a more customer-centric approach, organizations across the entire IT services landscape have altered how they deliver their services, offering flexible consumption business models. 

Looking at the Indian landscape, the IT industry has been at the forefront, leading the country’s economic transformation and well-positioning it in the global economy. India accounts for approximately 67 per cent of the US$ 124-130 billion market and is the world's largest sourcing destination for the information technology (IT) industry, employing about 10 million workforces. In global sourcing market, India has the advantage of being cost competitive (providing IT services 3-4 times cheaper than the US) and this continues to be the mainstay of its USP.  
With the Internet of Things (IoT) trend gaining momentum and bringing with it a renewed focus on devices, segments of the hardware category is well poised for robust growth. As new trends and innovations drive the industry to progressive growth, there will be requirements of new skills in niche categories. Moreover, today’s niches will become a necessity in the coming years. 

Key takeaways:

For India and outsourcing, growth will remain in single digits for the near short term. With the increase in the buzz around artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and 3D printing, its adoption and implementation will pick up. Economic and political uncertainty continues to cast a shadow over IT industry. As a result, IT buyers are going to be cautious about their investments andcan be reluctant towards risk-taking. Global political uncertainty is affecting the IT buyer’s willingness to make big ticket investments. Cloud and hosted services will remain major players in the coming year.

The political and economic shadow looming over the IT sector

With the economic slowdown in China and UK's planned exit from the European Union, the business world is facing uncertain times. Moreover, economic uncertainty stoked by the U.S. presidential election and Brexit, have left the IT industry facing with the possibility of changes in prices, regulations, and exchange rates. Data storage and security will remain the topmost concern, leaving the experts anxious about how privacy regulations varying between countries will affect and how their data is stored. 

Trends

Security is still the top player in IT priorities. Among the top trends, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and 3D printing will set the pace for the future, especially as they begin to take their turn in the workplace. Inspired by the way cloud computing and SaaS have revolutionized the way companies access their software applications, virtualization and dockerization is an upcoming trend. It allows businesses to eliminate associated operating costs and streamlines the processes, making IT infrastructure more economical and flexible. Thus, Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service are also growing in popularity. Moreover, companies worldwide are realizing the cost-saving benefits of virtual office environments. Moving away from traditional physical office-based business models toward remote network structures, more and more businesses are taking advantage of this new technology to reduce financial overheads and increase productivity. 

Summary    

As the IT sector grapples with the exponential rate of change seen over the decade, the $146 billion-industry is in control and taking charge of its destiny. During these unprecedented circumstances, despite the number of obstacles on the path ahead, the outlook of IT industry looks promising as it is looking forward to take advantage of exciting technology from innovative brands.

The article is contributed by Mr. Mohiuddin Khan Inamdar, Sr. Solutions Architect - Xavient Information Systems.