IDC Directions 2023: Digital transformation to represent 50% of all national investment in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) by 2025 in Portugal

Portugal’s IT sector will grow just 0.8%, influenced mainly by direct sales in computers, tablets, wearables, telephones and monitors, but also because of a slowdown in some investments due to an increase in interest rates and economic uncertainty according to a leading consultancy.

International Data Corporation (IDC), which held its annual Directions conference in Estoril on Thursday with this year’s theme focused on using technology to scale digital business, foresees that the ICT market in Portugal will represent €5.3Bn of investment this year with 70% in 3rd Platform Technologies (cloud computing, big data, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence).

The consultant estimates that in the period 2022 to 2025 direct investments in digital transformation will see an annual average growth rate of 14.5%.

“Innovation is the only way by which we will change the status quo, create value, and solve problems, even in even in adverse financial and geopolitical contexts such as inflation and the war”, said Gabriel Coimbra, Group Vice-President and Country Manager of IDC Portugal.

And added: “It is why we believe that digital transformation will represent 50% of all national investment in ICT – the information and communications technology (or technologies), that provide the infrastructure and components that enable modern computing — by 2025 in Portugal”.

Coimbra said that top decision makers recognise that at a given moment transformations are replaced by a greater and more significant long-term target that will enable theior companies to efficiently respond to the needs of clients, citizens, suppliers and partners.

IDC explains that after annual growth rates of 17.8% and 4,4% in 2021 and 2022, the IT market in Portugal will slow to only 0.8% this year, influenced by an adjustment in sales of computers and tablets, wearables, telephones and monitors, but also in a slowdown in some investments due to an increase interest rates and economic uncertainty.

In the current context, IDC emphasises that stronger and more resilient companies that began their digital business transformations years ago, before the disruptions of the last three years.

These companies are maturing as digital companies and are coming close o operating as organisations that prioritise digital, unlike those that are still at the beginning of the process that need to quickly recover or be left behind.

IDC estimates that the AI area represents an investment of €92 million in 2023 (up 24.6%) while investment in IoT is likely to reach €93 million (up 20.7%.

Investment in IT security solutions now represents 7.5% of the annual budget of ITC companies and should stand at €302 million by the end of 2023 (up 13.9%).

As for investment in cloud computing in Portugal, this will reach €855 million in 2023, up 20.6%.

This year’s IDC Directions event attracted around 1,500 delegates and 1,000 remote participants.