PRLog (Press Release)– Apr 24, 2011– While Hungary exited recession in 2010, local IT spending is forecast to grow modestly in 2011 against the backdrop of a still-difficult domestic political and economic situation. Total spending on IT products and services in 2011 is projected at around US$3.0bn, up around 4% compared with the country's IT budget in 2010.
Trading conditions remain challenging for IT vendors in 2011 as household demand, business investment and government spending will remain muted due to deleveraging and fiscal austerity. Government IT spending will also be severely constrained by the fiscal situation, with the Fidesz-led administration (elected in April 2010) committed to reigning in spending in the face of fiscal constraints.
Industry Development
IT spending in Hungary will continue to receive momentum from a number of programmes to assimilate Hungary into the EU's broader 'Information Society'. The government's second National Development Plan provides the framework for the use of US$28.8bn from the EU's structural and cohesion funds for the 2007-2013 period. The Hungarian Association of IT Companies is hopeful that a new influx of EU funds will help stimulate a recovery in public sector IT spending.
One key policy area for structural funds is health. The National Development Plan has committed EUR1.7bn for the development of the health sector. The government has completed the first phase of a pilot project to improve exchange of information among hospital outpatient clinics and general practitioners (GPs) in one of the least developed regions of Hungary.
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Despite the difficult trading conditions, fellow global IT services giant IBM has continued to invest in Hungary. In September 2010, IBM announced a new Budapest-based centre for analytics. The company has targeted US$16bn in business analytics and optimisation revenues by 2015, and plans new analytics solutions centres in a number of other locations, including Vienna and Zurich.
In May 2010, fellow US IT giant HP introduced an expanded set of consulting se best rc helicopter buy sell market place rvices specifically for telecoms companies. At the same time, the company announced a recent customer win at Hungary's leading telecoms company Magyar Telekom. Magyar engaged HP to develop a single, consolidated platform for Magyar to automate key processes and workflows. The solution was first deployed for new IP services and Magyar now plans to extend it to the rest of its services portfolio.
In July 2010, Magyar Telekom said that it had signed an agreement to buy 100% of Hungarian IT company Daten Kontor Group (DK Group.) DK Group develops, installs and manages IT applications, and Magyar Telekom hopes that the acquisition of the HUF2.2bn turnover company, which was still subject to regulatory approval, will help it to strengthen its position in the IT services market.
Computer Sales
Hungary's computer hardware market is estimated at around US$1.3bn in 2011, with notebooks accounting for more than half of sales. Revenues are expected to reach US$1.6bn by 2015, growing at a 2011-2015 compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.4%.The popularity of relatively inexpensive netbooks helped to prevent a steep shipments deceleration during the recession, while acting to deflate average prices.
In H110, retail sales grew slowly, even as businesses remained cautious, with most growth expected in the second half of the year. The median expectation is probably one of moderate growth driven mainly by notebooks. Meanwhile, 2010 also saw the emergence of tablet notebooks, spearheaded by Apple's iPad.
Software
The Hungarian addressable software market is projected by BMI at US$729mn in 2011 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.9% over BMI's five-year forecast period. In 2010, the economic slowdown represented a challenge to software vendors, as enterprises were tempted to focus more on the bottom line. Business confidence had slumped to record lows in February 2009, depressing investment.
State support will be important in sustaining investment. The large company sector is relatively saturated in terms of basic applications such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. However, opportunities exist to sell upgrades or more specialised applications such as customer relationship management (CRM), human resources (HR) and business intelligence. Key opportunities are also likely to be found in the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) and public sectors, where spending is lower than many other countries in the region.
IT Services
The Hungarian IT services market is expected to be worth around US$1.5bn by 2015, up from an estimated US$1.0bn in 2011, with services accounting for more than one-third of IT spending in Hungary as the market matures. The IT services market was expected to experience modest growth in 2010, as Hungarian organisations scaled back as a result of the economic uncertainty. The market was also hit by the slowdown in government IT projects tendering, with just 5% growth projected for 2010.
In the medium term, EU accession and the continuing advancement of technology mean more and more companies (and government departments) will turn to outside experts to handle the complexities of the emerging IT environment. There remain a number of projects in the pipeline in areas such as healthcare, utilities and government procurement.
E-Readiness
A 2007 EU report on e-government development in Hungary found good progress generally in frontoffice procedures, but less so in back-office ones.
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