IT services revenue grew 6 per cent in 2005

Gartner report shows worldwide single digit growth year over year

The worldwide IT services market totaled $624.4bn in 2005, a six per cent increase from 2004, according to analyst firm Gartner.
In EMEA IT services totalled 173bn euros in 2005, a 5.8 per cent increase from 2004.

“Traditionally, the outsourcing service segment has been the key growth area for the worldwide IT services market, but that trend was altered in 2005,” said Kathryn Hale, research vice president at Gartner's worldwide IT services group. “In 2005, project-based services and software support grew at a greater rate than the overall market average, which has not been the case since 2000.”

IBM was the worldwide market leader with a 7.6 per cent market share, however, its growth rate was below the industry average. EDS was second, with a 3.2 per cent market share with Fujistu and Hewlett-Packard in third and fourth place with 2.8 and 2.6 per cent market share respectively.

The financial services market continued to be the largest vertical for IT services revenue totaling $141.3bn in 2005, a seven per cent increase from 2004. Healthcare organisations provided the greatest growth in spending on external IT services providers in 2005, increased its spending from $17.9bn in 2004 to $19.4bn in 2005, representing a growth rate of 8.7 per cent.

Robert De Souza, principal research analyst at Gartner in EMEA, said: “Project-based services, that is consulting, development and integration, returned to a healthier growth in 2005 with a 5.6 per cent increase from 2004. In addition, process management grew almost two per cent higher than the average market growth with an increase of 7.9 per cent compared to last year.”