Canadian ICT market to grow to $132.6 billion by 2025
International Data Corporation (IDC) Canada expects the Canadian information and communication technology (ICT) market will expand to $132.6 billion by 2025, according to a recent forecast report. The research and consulting firm also offered several predictions for the Canadian tech market in the next four years.
After the pandemic cratered the economy in 2020, resulting in a Canada GDP decline of 5.4%, vaccine uptake and supportive fiscal and monetary polices helped drive a recovery in the second half of 2021. The Bank of Canada is currently projecting GDP growth of 5% in 2021 and 4.25% in 2022.
As companies emerged from the shock of the pandemic downturn – which initially froze IT spending – many subsequently turned to digital investments to help deal with newly sharpened challenges, including remote work, e-commerce, and digitally optimized supply chains.
“Canadian IT and business leaders have told us that they are shifting their investments to more digital technologies. These investments along with greater adoption of as-a-service delivery models will be needed to support diverse customer engagement and data-driven operations,” Tony Olvet, group VP of research at IDC Canada, said.
The firm expects the Canadian economy will grow by 4.1% in 2022, with ICT spending moving in lockstep at approximately 5% growth. ICT market growth will be concentrated on cloud computing, core business applications, security, and customer experience, according to the firm.
“However, the growth is not without some challenges. Supply chain disruptions and energy constraints will continue, and new variants of Covid-19 will remain a cause for concern," Lars Goransson, managing director at IDC Canada, said.
The consulting firm also outlined some predictions for Canadian ICT market in the next four years. IDC expects as-a-service and outcomes-centric models to account for 60% of tech and services by 2024, as the allure of recurring revenue models continues to increase.
Emerging technology will also continue to grow in usage, especially by resource-rich companies. IDC expects 60% of large companies in Canada will have deployed an AI or machine learning solution for business or IT observability by 2025.
Though many companies will be itching to get their employees back in the office as the pandemic subsides, a permanently enlarged remote workforce will nonetheless remain. Approximately double the amount of people will work from home in 2025 compared to 2019.
More large organizations will also integrate environmental sustainability parameters into their business KPIs, according to IDC’s forecast, with nearly half of FP500 companies doing so by 2023.
Chief information officers will be looking to consultants to help plan and execute tech initiatives, with approximately 80% of CIOs turning to consulting firms for cloud-related projects by 2024.
