Tech mkt to jog at a 5.9 pc clip in 2016

SINGAPORE: With improving economies in the US and elsewhere offsetting weakness in Europe, Japan, and oil-exporting countries, the global tech market will see growth of 5.3 per cent in 2015 and 5.9 per cent in 2016, according to Forrester's annual forecast.

The projected growth, which can be attributed to technologies that focus on the end customer, will bring the global tech market to $2.337 trillion in 2015 and $2.483 trillion in 2016. Forrester projects that software - the way that companies must differentiate in the age of the customer - will represent $677 billion of total tech budget spending in 2016, a 9.2 per cent increase from 2015. In contrast, computer equipment will represent only $412 billion of spending in 2016, with modest 5.0 per cent growth from 2015.

In the Asia Pacific region, India’s economy has recovered from a 2013-2014 slump, with growth projected to rise to over six per cent in 2015 and 2016. China’s economy, despite official concerns, should still expand by around seven per cent, and Indonesia’s by more than five per cent. South Korea’s economy will pick up steam, reaching 4.1 per cent in 2016. And Australia will continue to expand by 2.5 per cent or more.

At the country level, Forrester expects the US to continue to be the major driver of global tech market growth and will set the pace for the rest of the world with rates of 6.3 per cent in 2015 and 6.1 per cent in 2016. China, India, Israel, and Sweden will join the US in having the fastest growth among the 20 largest tech markets, while continental Europe, Japan, and Russia will continue to lag behind.