IDC: Global mobility solutions spending to reach $1.6tn in 2018

According to a new report from the International Data Corporation, global technology spending on mobility solutions is expected to rise 3.2% throughout 2018, reaching over $1.6tn.

The IDC’s Worldwide Semiannual Mobility Spending Guide further shows that this growth is expected to largely be maintained, with a forecast compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.8% through 2021, with the market expected to surpass $1.7tn within this period.

“The new mobility use cases and technology adoption in enterprises is driving growth in all three facets of the market, from devices to software and services,” said Phil Hochmuth, Program Director, Enterprise Mobility.

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Mobility services is set to see almost 60% and over $1tn of this total spending in 2021, dominated by mobile connectivity services that will account for over 90% of this market.

“As device capabilities continue to evolve with augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI), and with 5G networks on the near horizon, technology choices for mobile technology buyers will become increasingly complex and critical to business success.”

Hardware is predicted to be the second largest technology category, with spending forecast to reach $675bn in 2021, whilst smartphones are expected to account for three quarters of this.

Further, despite being the smallest technology category, software is expected to see the strongest level of growth, maintaining a CAGR of 14.7% over the five-year period, largely driven by mobile enterprise application spending.

“These figures aren’t really surprising, but they do underline the extent to which – if the this prediction is accurate – telcos need to invest in next-generation technologies,” said Ravi Kumar Palepu, Global Head of Telco Solutions, Virtusa.

“Also, with the rising number of users and connected devices that IDC predicts, networks need to be addressing security as well as reliability, making sure they are preventing DDoS attacks and the like. Overall, these issues underline the need for a strong network infrastructure at the back-end as well as intelligent devices that minimise service latency and support the expected traffic increase is clear – and telcos must be ready for these impending changes.”