Publication date: 12 Apr 2023
ICT Spending in Spain Will Reach $64 Billion in 2023, with Insurance Companies Driving AI Boom, Says IDC
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For more information, contact:- Laura Torrejon (ltorrejon) Email: ltorrejon@idc.com Phone number: +34 91 787.2162
- Zsolt Simon (zsimon) Email: zsimon@idc.com Phone number: +420111111
MADRID, April 12, 2023 — According to the Worldwide ICT Spending Guide: Enterprise and SMB by Industry published by International Data Corporation (IDC), organizations in Spain will spend more than $64 billion on ICT this year and will continue to increase investments to surpass $74 billion by 2026. Although ICT spending in the country will grow steadily, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the 2021-2026 period will not exceed 4.7% (below the European average of 5.4%).
Spending on technology will continue despite macroeconomic headwinds and business uncertainty spawned and fueled by the Ukraine-Russia conflict, with consumer, banking, and professional services driving most of the Spanish ICT spending in 2023. The latest forecasts indicate that the gross domestic product (GDP) of Spain will grow by just 1.5% year on year in 2023, although the country’s economy can still be considered one of the most resilient to the current disruptions in Europe, with an expected growth rate significantly exceeding the European average (0.6%). Spain is one of the largest beneficiaries of the European Union’s Next Generation EU (NGEU) recovery instrument, which will support economic growth, as well as investments in ICT. Inflation and energy prices will remain high, impacting both enterprise IT budgets and consumer purchases, but there are signs of improvements as the Consumer Price Index (CPI) remained below expectations in March, according to preliminary data by Spain’s National Statistics Institute.
"With electricity and fuel prices decreasing, Spain shows a lower-than-expected inflation in March, which might be a positive sign potentially leading to a brighter second half of 2023" says Zsolt Simon, senior research analyst at IDC. "Major transformations have been taking place across industry sectors in the country. New technologies and use cases have emerged to address new challenges, and businesses need carefully considered strategies to remain competitive and generate value for their clients.”
During these demanding times, the focus of ICT investments has been shifting to technologies capable of sustaining growth by reducing costs, improving performance, and optimizing processes. Enhancing customer experience is also a key focus area, and artificial intelligence is one of the fastest growing areas of investment, due to its tremendous potential to improve both customer and employee experience, while mitigating skills shortage.
Spending on AI platforms, including AI software services, AI lifecycle software, and Intelligent Knowledge Discovery Software, will post an outstanding 42.4% CAGR over the 2021-2026 period. The insurance industry will be the leader in this AI boom. Price optimization and fraud detection will be among the top use cases among insurance companies, while the implementation of conversational AI will also be leveraged to improve customer experience and reduce pressure on the human workforce.
Other top areas of ICT investment growth will be security, particularly security software, where spending among Spanish organizations will increase with a 13% CAGR over the 2021-2026 period, driven by strong spending growth in the telecommunications sector.
About the IDC Worldwide ICT Spending Guide: Enterprise and SMB by Industry
The Worldwide ICT Spending Guide: Enterprise and SMB by Industry, previously known as the Worldwide Semiannual ICT Spending Guide by Industry and Company Size, is IDC's flagship all-in-one data product capturing IT spending across more than 100 technology categories and 53 countries. The guide provides a granular view of the market for IT spending from country, industry, company size, and technology perspectives. This comprehensive database, delivered via pivot table or IDC's custom query tool, enables users to easily extract meaningful information about various technology markets and industries by viewing data trends and relationships and making data comparisons across more than 3 million data points.
About IDC
International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,300 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC's analysis and insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading tech media, data and marketing services company. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com. Follow IDC on Twitter at @IDC and LinkedIn. Subscribe to the IDC Blog for industry news and insights.