|
|
 |
|
Viewing report
|
|
|
|
Czech Republic Information Technology Report Q1 2011
Business Monitor International, Jan 2011, Pages: 58
Business Monitor International's Czech Republic Information Technology Report provides industry professionals and strategists, corporate analysts, information technology associations, government departments and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on Czech Republic's information technology industry.
The Czech Republic’s IT market is forecast to achieve a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9%from US$4.7bn in 2011 to around US$6.5bn in 2015. Consumer and business IT spending picked up in2010 but continued economic uncertainty and rising unemployment will likely mean that, during BMI’sfive-year forecast period, growth will remain below the immediate pre-2008 trend level.BMI expects to see a continued improvement during 2011 in enterprise and consumer IT spending, but anuncertain economic and political climate will weigh on investments. Unemployment is expected toremain relatively high, and this will act as a drag on real wage growth and consumer demand.
Industry Developments The Czech Ministry for Local Development, which supervises the allocation of EU subsidies forinvestment in IT and other areas, has launched a campaign to make access to the funds easier for smallerorganisations. According to the ministry’s plans, subsidies should go into areas with strong potential todrive growth. Since the beginning of the 2007-2013 budget period, the total amount approved by the EUfor Czech projects has reached CZK150.6bn.
The health sector is one area of growing public sector spending. The Czech National Health Insurance Agency has implemented a new anti-fraud software plan to be implemented in the next couple of years.As part of the modernisation of the sector, 14 medical institutes run by the Ministry of Health are alsorolling out unified software, supplied by Aquasoft.
Competitive Landscape In September 2010, iPad-maker Apple signed up AT Computers as a second distributor for the Czechmarket. Apple hoped that the new distribution deal would help it to cut local prices by thousands ofcrowns, from a level around 10-15% above that found in much of the rest of Europe. Previously retailprices and margins were determined by Apple’s sole Czech distributor Apcom, but now Apple hasplanned to get more involved.
Despite the impact of the global financial crisis, the banking and financial services sector remains a key target for IT vendors. In April 2010, business analytics software vendor SAS won a contract from theCzech Republic’s largest bank, Ceska sporitelna. The bank purchased SAS’s Marketing Optimisationsoftware with the aim of optimising existing marketing campaigns and increasing income. Ceskasporitelna, which already uses SAS software, selected long-term partner Capgemini for theimplementation.
Meanwhile, also in April 2010, Israeli IT services global player Ness announced that it had won a US$2mn contract from Teva Czech Industries, a provider of pharmaceuticals products. The importantproject win confirmed Ness’ position as a leading provider of Oracle implementation services in theCzech Republic after the vendor had delivered solutions for other Czech companies such as Vitkoviceand Dalkia Czech Republic.
Computer Sales The Czech computer hardware market is forecast to grow 5% in 2011, consolidating a recovery inspending in 2009. Sales of desktops, notebooks and accessories are projected at US$2.1bn in 2011, withnotebooks accounting for around two-thirds of PC sales. The country still lags behind the EU average forcomputer ownership, which BMI sees as rising from around 50% in 2009 to above 75% by 2015. For 2011-2015, the median expectation is probably one of moderate growth, driven mainly by notebooks. Over the past few years, higher real wages and a strong local currency have led to an expansion ofelectronics and computer equipment sales through retail channels and online stores; however, due in partto the global credit crunch and economic slowdown, expansion seems likely to be slower going forward.
Software BMI projects a software market value of US$1.0bn in 2011, up 10% on the previous year. Growth isexpected to remain below the trend of previous years as political and economic uncertainty weighs oninvestments. BMI projects a market value of US$1.4bn by 2015, growing at a CAGR of 9%. Migrationsto the Windows 7 operating system should continue to impact positively on market revenues in2010, although much will depend on success in bringing down the piracy rate, which still remains abovethe EU average.
BMI expects growth to pick up again as the focus of software market growth shifts from basic enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations for large accounts and central government to new markets andproduct areas. Many larger organisations in the manufacturing and utilities sector in particular havealready completed ERP implementations. Therefore, vendors are now looking to other areas such ascustomer relationship management (CRM) and business intelligence, where faster growth is possible.
Services The Czech market was ahead of many other Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries in moving toa relatively high level of spending on IT services, and the market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9% toaround US$2.2bn by 2015. BMI estimates that sales revenue of IT services dipped slightly in 2009 as aresult of the eurozone slowdown.
Headline trends obscure some patterns of change in the composition of spending. The relatively sophisticated market means that there is more demand for applications tailored to specific verticals, aswell as systems consolidation and platform integration.
E-Readiness The Czech Republic still lags behind Western Europe in high-speed internet connections. In one survey,the Czech Republic ranked third for PCs per household among new EU member states at accession;overall PC penetration is around 50% currently and is expected to rise to above 75% by 2015.A 2010 EU report revealed uneven advances in information and communication technology (ICT)indicators in the Czech Republic. The EU i2010 report suggested that much current growth in internetconnectivity in the Czech Republic now comes from conversion from narrowband to broadband.Furthermore, rapid growth in overall connectivity is balanced by a slowing of broadband penetration ofenterprises.
Alternative broadband technologies such as wireless technologies Wi-Fi and WiMAX are expected to play an increasingly important role in the development of the broadband industry. CeskeRadiokomunikace (CRa) launched a commercial WiMAX service in Prague in January 2009. Theavailability of internet and broadband services is continually being expanded, driven by Telefónica O2’sreduction in wholesale access prices and the regulator’s enforcement of local loop unbundling.Availability and competition are helped by other operators with their own networks such as Broadnet andUPC, which are able to offer an alternative to Telefónica O2’s network infrastructure and encourage theincumbent to invest in developing its own network.
Product samples
A sample for this product is available. Please Login/Register to download this sample.
|
|
|
|
