In 2005 Saudi Arabia witnesses an excellent period of outsourcing services and the spending increased by 57%. This was revealed in a recent study conducted by IDC. Other sectors also witnessed tremendous growth was customization field where investments rose by 32% as compared to the previous year.
Despite all these achievements the overall growth in IT services has been far from satisfactory and spending in Saudi Arabia grew by 6.4% to cross the figure of $700 million. As per the study it is expected that total spending would pick up this year and is expected to grow by more than 13%. The main drivers of growth would be development of IT in banking and telecom sector and rise in oil prices.
As per Philip van Heerden, Research Manager, IDC Middle East and Africa:
The surge in demand for customisation and outsourcing services caught many vendors off guard but enabled them to sustain revenue. Although support and deployment services and system integration were again the largest IT services areas last year, they both shrank. They will pick up again this year but expand at less than half the rate of the total IT services market.
