International Data Corporation (IDC) recently published a series of 3rd Platform Industry Spending Guides that provide in-depth forecasts for technology spending. The guides cover nine industries – banking, government, healthcare, insurance, manufacturing, oil and gas, retail, securities and investment services, and utilities – with detailed spending projections for 3rd Platform technologies (mobility, cloud, big data and analytics (BDA), and social) and Innovation Accelerators (artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR), 3D printing, Internet of Things (IoT), security, and robotics) as well as traditional, 2nd Platform technologies.

"While IT spending is contracting in some areas, spending on 3rd Platform technologies will see double-digit growth throughout the post-COVID recovery period," said Karen Massey, research manager, Customer Insights & Analysis. "However, the investment priorities are somewhat varied across industries. The financial services sector, which includes the banking, securities and investment services, and insurance industries, relies more heavily on cloud, mobility, and big data and analytics, for example. But the Internet of Things (IoT) is the primary investment focus in the other six industries, especially manufacturing, oil and gas, and utilities."

3rd Platform technologies will become the largest area of technology investment in the banking industry by 2022 with cloud and mobility accounting for 30% or more of all industry spending throughout the forecast. With a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.5%, spending on big data and analytics will nearly equal mobility by the end of the forecast while cloud spending takes on more prominence with a five-year CAGR of 16.2%. Consumer banking will remain the largest sub-industry, accounting for more than half of all technology spending by the industry throughout the forecast.

The insurance and securities and investment services industries will follow a similar spending trajectory as banking with cloud and mobility investments leading the way, followed closely by big data and analytics. Both industries will also see similar levels of investment in next-generation security and AI systems. One area where the two industries diverge is IoT spending, which will be notably higher for the insurance industry, led by the property & casualty sub-industry.

"In response to the need for resiliency and scalability in financial services operations, our research has shown accelerated growth in spending on infrastructure technologies like cloud and security, and in business areas like digital banking, risk management in insurance, and analytics in the capital markets industry," said Jerry Silva, program vice president, IDC Financial Insights. "And because many areas in financial institutions are limiting budgets in the face of an uncertain lending environment, investments in as-a-Service cloud solutions and platforms will increase their share of the IT dollar."

The manufacturing industry will deliver the largest investments in 3rd Platform technologies with spending growing to more than $800 billion in 2024. IoT will be the largest area of investment, accounting for more than 30% of the industry's IT spending throughout the forecast. Robotics will be the second largest area of spending with strong investments from the automotive, consumer packaged goods (CPG), and aerospace and defense sub-industries. Robotics and AI systems will see some of the fastest spending growth with a five-year CAGRs of 19.2% and 19.9%, respectively.

IoT will also be the largest area of investment in both the utilities and the oil and gas industries as they increase their use of sensors in smart meters and for distribution automation. Cloud and mobility will see similar levels of investment at the beginning of the forecast, but cloud will benefit from significantly stronger spending growth throughout the forecast in both industries. Robotics will also overtake both cloud and mobility by the end of the forecast to become the second largest area of investment in the oil and gas industry.

In retail, IoT investments will account for nearly a quarter of all technology spending as organizations focus on omni-channel operations. Cloud and mobility will account for another quarter of all retail spending while AR/VR, robotics, and AI systems will see the fastest spending growth as companies invest in customer experience and automation. For general merchandise retailers like Walmart and Target, cloud is the top spending priority while the food store sub-industry will focus more of its spending on IoT along with cloud and mobility.

IoT is also the largest area of spending within the healthcare industry, where providers (hospitals, physician clinics, and other providers) are utilizing remote sensors for bedside telemetry, asset tracking, and remote health monitoring. Mobility and cloud will be the next largest areas of spending with cloud forecast to grow at a notably faster rate (14.0% CAGR). Investments in AI systems and robotics will also experience strong growth over the course of the forecast with five-year CAGRs of 21.0% and 16.8% respectively.

Government spending on 3rd Platform technologies is forecast to grow to nearly $300 billion by 2024 with a CAGR of 11.6%. IoT will be the largest area of spending, accounting for more than one third of all 3rd Platform investments as governments at all levels invest in public safety and emergency response programs, public infrastructure asset management, and intelligent transportation systems. Mobility and cloud will be the next largest areas of investment with cloud spending overtaking mobility by the end of the forecast with a five-year CAGR of 12.9%. AR/VR and AI systems will see the fastest spending growth with CAGRs of 84.0% and 25.8% respectively.

IDC's 3rd Platform Industry Spending Guides provide an in-depth industry market forecast for 3rd Platform (mobility, cloud, big data and analytics, and social) and Innovation Accelerators (artificial intelligence, augmented reality/virtual reality, 3D printing, Internet of Things, security, and robotics) technologies as well as spending data for hardware, software, and IT services, plus two delivery types (cloud and non-cloud), across nine geographic regions and 64 sub-industries and lines of business. The guides remove duplicative spending (overlap or double counting) that is inherent to individual technology forecasts, thereby offering a wholistic industry and subindustry/line-of business forecast for emerging technology markets. This version (V1 2021) of the Spending Guides incorporates updated assumptions for political, economic, and pandemic impacts across all technology and industry markets.

About IDC Spending Guides

IDC's Spending Guides provide a granular view of key technology markets from a regional, vertical industry, use case, buyer, and technology perspective. The spending guides are delivered via pivot table format or custom query tool, allowing the user to easily extract meaningful information about each market by viewing data trends and relationships.

For more information about IDC's Spending Guides, please contact Monika Kumar at mkumar@idc.com.

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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 1,100 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology, IT benchmarking and sourcing, 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.

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IDC has published a series of 3rd Platform Industry Spending Guides that provide in-depth forecasts for technology spending across nine industries.