Mobile communications to keep UK IT strong in 2008
The growing demand for mobile online communications among business users will offset any damage caused to the IT industry by the current economic slowdown, a new report has concluded.
According to the figures published in Gfk's latest IT Barometer Report, the UK IT market grew by 4.7 per cent over 2007, partly due to the growing popularity of communications technology such as voice over IP (VoIP) applications.
The study also found that there was an 11 per cent deline in sales of boxed software as vendors switch to online software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions, though sales of mobile devices and laptops were up as enterprises turn to the benefits of a mobile and flexible workforce.
Commenting on the prospects for the sector over the next 12 month period, Anthony Norman, business group director at GfK, said: "We expect to see a more moderate growth rate in the first half of 2008. Current market conditions will have an impact on spending on IT hardware and software, but we do not expect this to register any negative results."
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