Mobile, cloud and cyber security predicted as public sector IT growth areas

Digital Scotland map - Image credit: Holyrood

Mobile, cloud and cyber security are predicted to be growth areas in public sector technology in Scotland, according to a new industry report.

The report, Public Sector ICT Expenditure in Scotland, has been produced by technology industry body ScotlandIS in partnership with the Scottish Government.

ScotlandIS analysed actual spend on ICT across the Scottish public sector over the last six years as well as well as forecasting trends to 2021, to provide information about the sector at a level of detail it claims “has never been available before”.

Polly Purvis, CEO of ScotlandIS, said the organisation had conducted the research in response to demand from its members.

The report predicts a continuation of the trend towards mobile and flexible working, with demand for mobile devices and mobile data expected to increase, along with more 4G calling and with a corresponding 40 per cent increase in demand for enterprise mobility management software.

As a result there is expected to be a drop in demand for fixed phones and lines, while spend on mobile voice services is forecast to fall by 90 per cent by 2021.

Cloud is another growth area, with Scottish public sector investment in cloud and hybrid service predicted to increase by 50 per cent over the next five years.

Public sector spending on security hardware and software is also expected to rise, with content-filtering, anti-spam appliances and smart cards estimated to increase by around 20 per cent until 2021 and unified threat management solutions and web application firewalls to experience “particular growth”.

The public sector is one of the most important vertical markets for Scotland’s digital technologies industry.

The 2017 Scottish Technology Industry Survey showed that 15 per cent of respondents supply the public sector, which made it the leading market, ahead of financial services and the ICT sector.

The public sector ICT market in Scotland was worth £811m in 2016/17 and has grown by 1.3 per cent per year on average between 2010/11 and 2016/17, and the report predicts it will increase by 4.9 per cent by 2021, with an increase particularly linked to to new Scottish social security system.

Colin Cook, Scottish Government director of digital, said: “This report demonstrates the importance of the public sector within the digital economy, and the Scottish Government is actively strengthening this relationship.

“I trust that this report will provide tech companies already supplying goods and services to the public sector with further guidance on future business opportunities, and provide companies that are new to public sector procurement with a better understanding of the opportunities that are available”.