On the back of the telecommunications boom in Africa, more IT service vendors are moving into the continent in search of new opportunities.

So says Brent Flint, services executive at Dimension Data MEA, who believes this trend is also driven by the maturation and growth of competition in the South African IT services market.

“This expansion is often on the back of clients’ businesses expansion into the rest of Africa,” he explains. “More businesses are moving into Africa and require IT service providers that will help drive IT efficiency as a key strategic business enabler and also an engine of innovation.”

Flint explains that organisations are looking for infrastructure, desktop, database and application support, as these play a key role in enabling business.

“Without a large IT department or justification for big expenditure on technology, businesses are looking for solutions that will get the job done cost-effectively and simply, while delivering a rapid return on investment.”

However, Flint says there is a shortage of specific skills in the African IT services market, and this is resulting in companies not always being able to efficiently provide the IT services needed to enable business.
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He adds that there is, therefore, a demand for IT service providers with experience and knowledge to enable business strategy, improve competitiveness, and drive business outcomes.

“Businesses are moving from ‘out-tasking’ discrete managed and professional services to a complete IT outsourcing solution.”

Garth Hayward, regional manager, Africa, at Kaseya, also cites skills shortage as one of the challenges besetting managed service providers in Africa.

“Finding and keeping good staff in the managed services industry is a challenge,” says Hayward. “There’s also a perception by business that IT companies don’t need to pay their staff.”

Hayward adds that the managed service providers are also finding it tough to craft value propositions that have relevance within their target markets.

Source:http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=51416:it-service-vendors-eye-african-expansion

Information technology (IT) market intel-
ligence and advisory services provider International Data Corporation (IDC) predicts that the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region will be the fastest-growing region worldwide and it expects a growth of about 11% in IT spend in Africa over the next year, says IDC MEA and Turkey vice-president and regional MD Jyoti Lalchandani.

“There is global consensus that 2010 will be better than 2009 and IDC is looking at a 3,2% growth in the industry worldwide. In 2009, South Africa saw a drop of 8,2%, which is about $10-billion, in IT spend, with the rest of emerging Africa experiencing a decline of 3,5%,” he says.

Lalchandani says that emerging markets are important and receive extensive focus and attention, as they are high growth markets. Over the next two years, more than a quarter of all IT investment will come from emerging markets. IDC expects emerging markets to 
account for 17% of net new spending in 2010/11.

IDC senior vice-president for the Central and Eastern Europe and MEA region MD Steven Frantzen states that there was a global drop in IT spending of $1,4-trillion in 2009, owing to drop-offs in hardware investments and software upgrades. Companies chose to improve the use of hardware to stretch their life-cycle and reuse equipment rather than buy new hardware. 
Software was also bought selectively and there was increased use of open-source software.

Frantzen adds, on a more positive note, that the global financial crisis has been an agent for IT change, as it has led to the reshaping of the IT industry and changes in IT spending, strategies and technologies.

Further, CIOs in emerging markets will be focusing on liquidity in 2010 and there will be a shift to smart investment spending and decapitalising IT, which will result in a focus on cloud computing, managed services, IT financing and leasing, and total cost of ownership.

Frantzen says that there will be a new normality for technology buyers in 2010, which will focus on growth and innovation to 
reduce costs. 
CIOs will also focus on the priorities of aligning IT with business and risk management.

Lalchandani says that regulation, compliance and risk management will drive investment and there will be faster migration to virtualisation and consolidation.

In addition, IT megatrends for 2010 
include the consolidation of data centres, the expansion and maturity of cloud comput-
ing, the ascent of mobile devices and applications and new challenges brought by 
Web 2.0. 
Other megatrends include the explosion of enterprise information, the increase of 
intelligent industries, the continuous growth of the IT domain, shifting market dynamics to focus on emerging markets and attention to IT adoption in Africa.

Lalchandani says that CIOs need to optimise, grow and comply by using consolidation, virtualisation, outsourcing and cloud computing, as well as focusing on analytics and balancing security, compliance, IT governance and business continuity. 
Fratzen adds that the CIO will define and manage priorities to provide more value for organisations.

Source:http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/it-market-intelligence-expects-11-growth-in-african-it-spend-2010-04-09