SMEs are the IT client of choice in Poland

In 2005 the value of the Polish IT market reached zł.17.8 billion, which is a 14.1-percent improvement on the previous year. According to analysts from market-research company PMR, the uptrend will be maintained.

"The Polish IT market is going through a long-term, steady growth," says Paweł Olszynka, a PMR analyst. "We estimate that at the end of this year its value will exceed zł.20 billion."

The structure of IT-related expenditures hasn't changed, with 60 percent still coming from big enterprises, far ahead of the second-largest users of IT - public administration.

According to Olszynka, there's a lot of room for growth in Polish SMEs' IT budgets. "In Western European countries, SMEs' share in IT spending is at least twice as big. So one can assume that the Polish SME sector has great potential in this respect," he said.

Individual users are steadily increasing their spending on IT - their share in IT expenditures increased from eight percent of the total market value in 2003 to 12 percent in 2005. This growth is mainly due to the improving economic situation and higher household incomes.

"Another factor is the falling prices of IT equipment. Individual customers don't use IT services and rarely buy legal software - the bulk of their spending on IT goes to equipment, especially computers," explains Marzena Opalińska, a PMR analyst.

The PMR experts stress, however, that the biggest growth on the IT market can be expected in the services sector, which already accounts for 80 percent of the total market value.