Press release: Digital confirms sustained growth of +6.5% in 2023, driven by strong innovation trends with generative AI and the rise of responsible digital.

Indicators remain positive despite a slowdown in growth in the second half of the year

Against an unstable economic and geopolitical backdrop, the digital sector is resilient in 2023, proving the structuring need for French companies to continue their digital transformations and investments in digital services and solutions. In fact, despite a slowdown, the digital sector as a whole continues to enjoy sustained growth of +6.5% for 2023.

All business lines reported higher sales:

• Estimated growth in 2023 for cloud publishers and platforms: +10.3%.
• Estimated growth in 2023 for Digital Services Companies (DSC): +4.1%.
• Estimated growth in 2023 for Technology Consulting (ICT): +5.5%.

The size of the digital market is estimated at 66.2 billion euros in 2023: 37% of the market for software publishers and cloud platforms with 24.5 billion euros in sales, 51% of the market for NSEs with 33.8 billion euros, and 12% for Engineering and Technology Consulting with 7.8 billion euros.

It should be noted, however, that the indicators point to a slowdown in activity in the second half of 2023, which will become more apparent in 2024. This is due in particular to the postponement of investments resulting from strong job creation in 2022 and part of 2023.

Numeum and PAC forecast +5.8% growth for the digital market in 2024. A resilient performance in a complicated French economic climate, which will see the digital market reach 70 billion euros by 2024.

The 5 main growth drivers boosting France’s digital sector

According to a survey conducted by PAC for Numeum, 5 trends are driving the digital sector:

• Cloud C&SI – Consulting and Systems Integration (a market worth 18.6 billion euros, with +17.5% growth in 2023): vertical clouds, globalized collaboration, widespread use of container approaches, modernization and transformation of apps/infra…
• Security (a market worth 3.8 billion euros, with +10.2% growth by 2023): with increased investment and outsourcing to counter the upsurge in risks, regulations and attacks…
• Big Data (a market worth 3 billion euros, with +18% growth by 2023): the collection and use of data are becoming essential to help business models evolve, develop new services, optimize operations…
• AI services (a market worth 1.1 billion euros with +22.9% growth in 2023): the subject is not new, but new technologies are making it possible to democratize and accelerate it.
• Responsible digital services (a 0.7 billion euro market with +39.3% growth in 2023): many companies, organizations and governments have made commitments in this area. Digital will be central to achieving these goals.

Reconciling generative AI and responsible AI

At a time when the rise of generative AI is arousing as much enthusiasm as fear, the digital sector is fully embracing this new era, which it sees as a source of opportunities for improvement (66%) and business (48%). Only 14% of companies in the sector see it as a major threat to employment. At the same time, 73% of publishers and platforms claim to have already implemented or plan to use generative AI for their offerings and solutions.

Responsible digital technology also remains a key lever for reconciling the environmental and digital transitions: Nearly 8 out of 10 digital companies (78%) are committed to this approach, and of these, 63% have already implemented actions and 13% will have done so by the end of 2023. This commitment will be reinforced for 94% of them in 2024. The success of the latest edition of the Green Tech Forum, a key event in the responsible digital sector, demonstrates the dynamism of this segment of the digital market.

A sector that recruits, but tensions exacerbated by the talent shortage

The digital sector continues to create jobs, with the net creation of 47,000 jobs by 2022.

Indicators still point to a positive dynamic in terms of jobs and recruitment, albeit to a lesser extent than in 2022, which was a record year. 85% of companies expect recruitment to be stable or up in 2023. They continue to attract young graduates and work-study students. A new trend is emerging, with 1 in 2 companies recruiting more senior or experienced profiles.

The sector is facing a very strong wave of internalization of expertise within client companies, which is leading to significant competition on the job market and pressure on salaries. This phenomenon is compounded by a cruel shortage of trained personnel in the digital sector.

Against an inflationary backdrop, French companies have had to respond to the demand for higher remuneration, while limiting the impact on their rates that would undermine an already shaken economy: 71% of software publishers and platforms have not passed on or have only recovered less than 50% of the cost increase on their rates. However, 41% of ESNs and ICTs estimate that the impact of inflation will be greater in 2024 than in 2023.

Numeum barometer on start-up employment in France : GreenTech in the lead in 2023

Last January, Numeum announced the launch of its monthly barometer on employment trends in French Tech start-ups, based on the Motherbase artificial intelligence solution. As the year draws to a close, we can see that these young start-ups are still going strong, despite a complicated financing environment. With over 15,000 start-ups, France continues its breakthrough in innovation. This is accompanied by a large number of jobs: more than 24,000 by 2023. The full report will be presented in January.

GreenTech is the leading job-creation sector , with 4,684 jobs created since the start of 2023. Transporttech and fintech complete the podium.

Methodology of the Digital Trends and Outlook study – Numeum – PAC based on market figures derived from PAC’s modeling for Numeum and indicators derived from over 200 responses from digital sector companies to the online survey conducted in October 2023.