According to a Gartner prediction, by 2014, IT hiring in major Western markets will come predominantly from Asian-headquartered companies enjoying double-digit growth. "An increasing number of successful Asian companies - particularly from China and India - are enjoying double-digit growth rates and will substantially grow their geographic footprints, making significant investments in major Western markets through 2015. Consequently, these organizations will be responsible for major hiring of IT professionals to support their growth at a time when Western companies will still be coping with the impact of the economic crisis," Gartner senior vice president and global head of research Peter Sondergaard said.
Spending on information technology (IT) in Asia Pacific will witness an increase of 7.9 percent over 2012 to reach $743 billion in 2013. IT spending in Asia Pacific is on pace to grow 7.6 percent in 2012, reveals a recent report from Gartner. IT spending is forecast to grow 3.2 percent in 2013 to reach A$75.5 billion ($75.4 billion) in Australia. In New Zealand, IT spending is forecast to grow 2.0 percent in 2013 to reach NZ$11.1 billion ($8.6 billion). These growth rates are slightly lower than the forecast worldwide growth of 3.8 percent.
In the Asia Pacific region, all five major segments of IT spending are expected to grow in 2013. The devices segment (including PCs, tablets, mobile phones & printers) in Asia Pacific is projected to total $229.7 billion, a 12.3 percent increase from 2012 spending. Data center systems spending is forecast to reach $28.6 billion in 2013, a 9.5 percent increase from 2012; software spending will total $33.9 billion, up 11.9 percent; IT services spending will reach $91.5 billion, up 7.5 percent, and telecom services is projected to total $359.4 billion, a 4.8 percent increase from 2012.
"As global markets improve in 2013 and resume growth, Asia Pacific remains one of the bright spots of the global IT market, allowing organizations in this region to accelerate competitiveness," Sondergaard said. "Organizations in Asia Pacific will be able to innovate and compete using what we call the nexus of forces, or the intersection of Cloud, Mobile, Social and Information. New business models will emerge in this region."
By 2015, 4.4 million IT jobs globally will be created to support big data. Of these, 960,000 will be in the Asia Pacific region. Every big data-related role in Asia Pacific will create employment for three people outside of IT, so a total of 4 million jobs in Asia Pacific. In 2016, more than 1.6 billion smart mobile devices will be purchased globally. Two-thirds of the mobile workforce will own a smartphone, and 40 percent of the workforce will be mobile, Gartner predicts.
