CEE Manufacturing Complexity Drives Demand for IT

According to recently released data from international marketing and research agency IDC, IT investments by manufacturers will be more than 18% higher in 2018 than in 2014 for the five core countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).

The countries are, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia.

The strengthening trend among CEE manufacturers is one of increased focus on operations with an aim to create environments characterized by operational excellence.

This goal will be supported by increased investments in IT-based decision-making tools.

IT spending by CEE manufacturers is expected to post a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.1% in 2014-2018.

Lower spending growth in the hardware segment will be offset by accelerated growth in IT services and software segments, which will expand at a CAGR of 5.3% during the five-year period.

The software segment, which currently accounts for 39% of manufacturing IT spending, and the IT services segment with 25% of IT spending, will grow the fastest in the region, representing a combined 69% share of total CEE manufacturing IT spending by 2018.

In addition, 3rd Platform technologies will finally begin to play a more substantial role in all these integrated environments and applications, with business intelligence (BI) and mobility applications becoming “must have” features for the success of manufacturing entities in an increasingly complex industry.

This shift places greater demand on IT functions to ensure integrated environments can function both internally and externally, and foster faster and better decision making.

“CEE markets still promise favorable growth rates in 2014, especially in the advanced manufacturing industries,” said Martin Kuban, analyst with IDC CEMA manufacturing insights. “The transformation in CEE manufacturing is reflected in higher demand for specialized software and IT services, as well as for 3rd-Platform technologies.”