The boom in the digital sector: a 6.3% growth rate forecast for 2023, but skills remain a major challenge

Forecasts confirm the sector’s good health

For the sector as a whole, Numeum has revised its initial growth forecast to +6.3% for 2023. On a European scale, France ranks 3rd behind Spain (+6.9%) and the UK (+6.8%), but ahead of Germany (+6%) and the Netherlands (+5.2%).

All business lines are benefiting from higher sales forecasts:

• Estimated growth for publishers and cloud platforms in 2023: +9.4%.
• Estimated growth for Digital Service Companies (DSC) in 2023: +4.2%.
• Estimated 2022 growth for Technology Consulting in 2023(ICT): +5.9%.

In 2023, the size of the digital market is thus estimated at 65 billion euros: 36.5% of the market for software publishers and cloud platforms with sales of 23.7 billion euros, 51.5% of the market for ESNs with sales of 33.5 billion euros, and 12% for Technology Consulting with sales of 7.8 billion euros.

Growth in the digital sector is largely driven by the cloud (+21.2%) and its implementation in many companies. Growth is also supported by its classic levers: Big data, IoT services, security and digital transformation.

According to a survey of 100 CIOs carried out for Numeum by the PAC research institute, more than half of them (51%) declare an IT budget increase for 2023, slightly down on forecasts (55%).

For corporate customers of digital players, the main IT objectives are, in order of priority: information system security (very important for 64%), improved customer experience (58%) and data analysis (51%). There has also been a sharp increase in the importance attached by CIOs to teleworking (tools put in place), transformation to the cloud and optimization of internal company processes.

Finally, digital responsibility has become more than ever an essential criterion for CIOs: 58% of them have already implemented actions, and 11% plan to do so this year. At the same time, 87% plan to intensify these actions in 2023.

Jobs in the digital sector: record net job creation in 2022, with a multitude of unfilled vacancies

Proof of its dynamism, the digital sector is creating jobs for the 13th year running: 47,000 jobs were created in 2022. Motherbase’s barometer of start-up employment in France observes that French Tech has created more than 31,300 jobs in total over the period May 2022 – May 2023.

Today, the digital sector employs over 661,000 people.

And yet, according to the latest figures from Institut Montaigne, 85,000 job vacancies in “core” digital professions are currently unfilled. While this talent shortage is not new, it is intensifying at a time when digital transformation is on every company’s agenda. Skills in data, security, development and the cloud are the most sought-after.

The difficulties of attracting specific profiles and the increased demands of applicants mean that companies have to retain their talent by using a number of levers: new working methods such as teleworking, training, career development, incentive plans and retraining. This agility is bearing fruit: in recent years, tech companies have dominated the rankings relating to well-being at work (e.g. Great Place to Work).

At the same time, 59% of CIOs are tending to re-insource certain skills: security, cloud and IT production in particular. The lack of resources at service providers, the criticality of the subject and the loss of in-house skills are the top three reasons cited. In a job market under pressure, 86% of them are recruiting more talent from their digital service providers (ESN, ICT…) than ever before.

The rise of responsible digital

As the spearhead of the mandate of Véronique Torner, Numeum’s new president since June, digital responsibility is a key lever for reconciling the environmental and digital transitions.

According to the survey carried out by PAC for Numeum, 58% of digital companies have already implemented specific actions in favor of digital responsibility, focusing on 3 areas: environmental impact, inclusion and digital trust. 77% of them also plan to intensify their actions in 2023. At the same time, 74% of digital companies are responding to at least one call for tenders with CSR criteria.

CIOs are taking on board the environmental issues linked to their own business: 37% are integrating CSR/decarbonation/sustainable development criteria into their IT objectives.

The 5 main growth drivers to continue boosting France’s digital sector

In an uncertain national and international economic context, 38% of ESNs and ICTs do not foresee any impact on their business. On the other hand, 69% believe that the impact will be greater this year than in 2022.

As established in the previous half-year, 5 strong trends continue to drive the digital sector:

• Cloud C&SI- Consulting and systems integration (a market worth 18.6 billion euros, with +21.2% growth forecast for 2023): vertical clouds, globalized collaboration, widespread use of container approaches, modernization and transformation of apps/infra…
• Digital transformation(a market worth 8 billion euros, with +6.4% growth forecast for 2023): customer experience, e-commerce, dematerialization, digitization of processes…
• IoT (a 7 billion euro market with +19.6% growth expected in 2023): the development of new solutions with 5G and edge computing…
• Security(a market worth 3.7 billion euros, with +11.6% growth forecast for 2023): increased investment and outsourcing to counter the upsurge in risks, attacks…
• Big Data(a market worth 2.8 billion euros, with +21% growth forecast for 2023): the collection and use of data to drive business models, develop new services, optimize operations…

Study methodology

Numeum – PAC economic survey based on market figures derived from PAC’s modeling for Numeum, and indicators derived from the responses of nearly 200 companies to the online survey of digital companies.