Information Technology and Communications research

Timing the release of a new console is the most strategic decision for the three suppliers. Read more »

In 2020 there was a mass movement of workers from offices to their homes, especially during the most restrictive lockdowns designed to slow the transmission of the Corona virus; Read more »

Towards the end of December Microsoft announced that it had discovered a major cyber attack, which had infected 40 government organizations, non-profit organizations, government contractors and IT companies (80% in the USA). Read more »

In 2020 there were five suppliers whose annual net income was above $10 billion (see my Figure in which I’ve included the year to the end of September 2020 values). Read more »

Part of my research process is to collect information on and break the whole market by customer type (see my Figure above for my forecast). Read more »

My Figure shows annual growth and absolute spending forecasts for the largest ITC offerings in 2021 (here the bubble sizes also show the spending total). Read more »

In terms of the four categories, spending will decline in all areas apart from Software; even here the growth (1,7% to $1,2 trillion) will be far less than in 2020 (8.0%). Read more »

ITC spending in China will grow the most (1% to $474 billion), the USA will remain the largest market ($2 trillion), but drop by 1.1%. The UK will drop the furthest (-4.0% to $275 billion) of the major markets. Read more »

The OECD forecasts GDP growth at –4.2%in 2020, +4.2% in 2021and +3.7% and 2022. The ITC market in my forecasts most likely grew in 2020 by 0.4% and has proved vital in allowing individuals and companies keep in touch digitally at a time when social distancing was the norm. Read more »

Massive storms, extensive flooding, forests burning for months, melting glaziers… there will be fewer people in 2021 who can deny the activities of a growing world population is a major cause.
The ITC industry itself accounts for as much as 5% of carbon emissions (including manufacturing and distribution of hardware and the operation of IT and communication data centers, and other devices), but it has the ability to influence 95% of it.
2021 will not be the first year in which we address the issue of course, but there has never been a time when it has been more important. I’ve argued for years that the environment is a stakeholder in corporate and social responsibility strategies and it is positive that reporting and reducing carbon emissions is being legislated for. My hope for the year is that our industry can take the lead in going further to address the issues and make a difference. We need to think holistically. For instance:

• We should move product manufacturing to country less dependent on fossil fuels for factories, as these processes account for as much as 50% of a device’s lifetime emissions
• We should think about water as well as electricity usage in manufacturing processes
  We should reduce activity as well as shift to renewable energy
• We should improve the efficiency of necessary activities, which may mean sharing a data center, rather than building a new one
• We should learn to reuse existing products rather than always purchasing new ones
• We should choose cloud and collocation suppliers partially on their environmental credentials

One of the few positives of the pandemic has been a short pause in the constant pollution of modern society. When it’s finally overcome we shouldn’t aspire for things to return to normal, but use it as an opportunity to adopt cleaner activities. I will be involved in projects around this issue in the year – so please connect with me if you plan to as well.
Happy New Year!
Navigate our predictions – intro 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10