Survival of the
The latest research by Migut Media indicates that the Polish IT market increased its growth by 40 percent last year.
Growth in the sector rose from 10 percent in 2003 to 14 percent in 2004. According the Teleinfo 500 Report, this increase was due to an increase in Poland's economic growth, growing exports and changes in currency rates, which altogether resulted in increased expenditure on IT.
However, despite the growing market, Poland still spends much less on IT than any other new member of the EU. Last year, only two percent of GDP was allocated to this sector. What's more, the report underlines that the IT and telecom infrastructure in Poland leaves a lot to be desired, which results in many investments going to neighboring countries.
The Polish market is very fragmented in comparison to other EU countries - out of the 750 companies included in the Teleinfo 500 Report only a little more than 50 have had income of more than zł.100 million. Therefore, according to the authors, consolidation is inevitable.
The report speaks of three groups of IT companies in Poland. The first is enterprises that are consolidated, such as Prokom Software (which has over 50 affiliated companies) and ComputerLand. Experts predict that because of limited growth prospects in the IT sector, these firms will transform into multi-purpose companies. Another group are those, such as ComArch and Comp Rzeszów, whose activities are based on their own, highly specialized products. However, their future expansion will heavily depend on their ability to sell their products abroad. The largest group are the small- and medium-sized IT enterprises, most of which will either cease to exist or will be integrated into larger companies.
The IT market segment that experienced the most rapid growth last year was the sale of services, which increased by nearly 20 percent. This was mainly due to the growing popularity of outsourcing. Offshoring services for foreign corporations is another growing trend. Also 2004 was a good year for Enterprise Resource Planning-systems providers as these are necessary to prepare claims for EU funds.
Growth in the sector rose from 10 percent in 2003 to 14 percent in 2004. According the Teleinfo 500 Report, this increase was due to an increase in Poland's economic growth, growing exports and changes in currency rates, which altogether resulted in increased expenditure on IT.
However, despite the growing market, Poland still spends much less on IT than any other new member of the EU. Last year, only two percent of GDP was allocated to this sector. What's more, the report underlines that the IT and telecom infrastructure in Poland leaves a lot to be desired, which results in many investments going to neighboring countries.
The Polish market is very fragmented in comparison to other EU countries - out of the 750 companies included in the Teleinfo 500 Report only a little more than 50 have had income of more than zł.100 million. Therefore, according to the authors, consolidation is inevitable.
The report speaks of three groups of IT companies in Poland. The first is enterprises that are consolidated, such as Prokom Software (which has over 50 affiliated companies) and ComputerLand. Experts predict that because of limited growth prospects in the IT sector, these firms will transform into multi-purpose companies. Another group are those, such as ComArch and Comp Rzeszów, whose activities are based on their own, highly specialized products. However, their future expansion will heavily depend on their ability to sell their products abroad. The largest group are the small- and medium-sized IT enterprises, most of which will either cease to exist or will be integrated into larger companies.
The IT market segment that experienced the most rapid growth last year was the sale of services, which increased by nearly 20 percent. This was mainly due to the growing popularity of outsourcing. Offshoring services for foreign corporations is another growing trend. Also 2004 was a good year for Enterprise Resource Planning-systems providers as these are necessary to prepare claims for EU funds.
