2022: forecasts confirm a very strong recovery for the sector
For the sector as a whole, Numeum has revised its initial growth forecast from +7.1% to +7.4% for 2022. All business lines benefit from higher sales forecasts: Estimated 2022 growth for Cloud Publishers and Platforms: +11.3% Estimated 2022 growth for Digital Services Companies (DSC): +5%. Estimated 2022 growth for Engineering and Technology Consulting (ICT): +6.9% After the Covid crisis, 2022 marks a very strong recovery for the digital sector. The sector’s growth remains largely driven by its classic levers: cloud, big data, cybersecurity, IoT, accelerated digital transformation. This marked upturn can be explained by the sharp increase in demand, driven by digital transformation, but also by other structural issues such as application migration and other previously halted projects that have resumed sooner than expected. Initially estimated at 56.3 billion euros, the size of the digital market is now re-evaluated at 60.8 billion euros in 2022: 35.5% of the market for software publishers and cloud platforms with 21.6 billion euros in sales, 52.5% of the market for ESNs with 31.9 billion euros and finally 12% for Engineering and Technology Consulting activities with 7.3 billion euros. Rising corporate IT budgets appear to be boosting growth. According to a survey of 100 CIOs carried out by PAC, Group Teknowlogy, for Numeum in May 2022, 51% of CIOs stated that their IT budgets for 2022 would be higher than forecast. For corporate customers of digital players, the main IT objectives remain, in order of priority: information system security (very important for 62% of CIOs), improving the customer experience (55%), and data analysis (47%). There has also been a sharp increase in the importance attached to responsible digital today, a very important issue for 45% of CIOs (source: PAC survey, Group Teknowlogy for Numeum, May 2022). Concerning the cloud : 68% of CIOs surveyed use the cloud, and 15% will start using it in 2022 or 2023. 78% of CIOs use public clouds from several suppliers (multi-cloud). SaaS is also gaining in strength compared to H2 2021, with 69% of CIOs using this model (source: PAC survey, Group Teknowlogy for Numeum, May 2022). As far as the geopolitical context is concerned, only 23% of digital companies believe that the global situation will have an impact on business in France. 1 IT project in 2 is likely to be impacted by the geopolitical situation, according to CIOs, but this impact will be mostly moderate for 2/3 of companies affected (source: PAC survey, Group Teknowlogy for Numeum, May 2022).
Recruitment still on the rise in the digital sector
For the 12th year running, the digital sector continues to create jobs. The number of employees in the digital sector will total 572,126 in 2021 (sources: BIPE, Numeum and ACOSS data), with 34,000 net new salaried jobs created in 2021. From a regional perspective, 50.3% of employees in the digital sector (IT services and software) were working in the Paris Region in 2021. Between 2020 and 2021, jobs in the sector in the Bretagne and Nouvelle-Aquitaine regions rose sharply (by 7.7% and 10.3% respectively). Occitanie, hard hit by the Covid crisis and its repercussions on the aeronautics industry, accounted for 7.3% of jobs in the sector in 2021, an increase of almost 8.7% on the previous year. Recruitment has picked up for 75% of digital companies, but difficulties in filling available positions are increasing : 79% of digital companies cite a lack of talent as the main obstacle to growth (source: PAC survey, Group Teknowlogy for Numeum, May 2022). The sector continues to face a shortage of talent trained in all the skills needed to deploy the latest technological innovations and support the entire French economy in its digital transformation.
5 key growth drivers to continue boosting France's digital sector
As established in the previous half-year, 5 strong trends continue to drive the digital sector: Digital transformation (+10.2% growth in 2022 or 7.6 billion euros): such as customer experience, e-commerce, dematerialization… Cloud C&SI – Consulting and systems integration (+24.5% growth in 2022 or 15.3 billion euros): verticalized clouds, globalized collaboration, widespread use of containers, modernization and transformation of apps/infra… Big Data(+22.1% growth in 2022 or 2.3 billion euros) : the collection and use of data to drive business models, develop new services… IoT (+19.1% growth in 2022, i.e. 5.9 billion euros): the development of new solutions with 5G and edge computing… Security (+11.3% growth in 2021, i.e. 3.3 billion euros): with increased investment and outsourcing to counter the upsurge in risks and attacks…
Godefroy de Bentzmann and Pierre-Marie Lehucher
Numeum
Co-presidents
“The French digital market is once again experiencing strong growth this year, driven by the digital transformation of organizations. However, digital companies are still facing a major talent shortage. If we want to see these positive results continue, training and the attractiveness of the sector must be a priority to counter the shortage of technical skills and meet the challenges of innovation in the sector.”
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