Technological Evolution and IT Market Opportunities

*Per Jorge Sukarie

I follow the Technology Market almost 40 years ago and I had the privilege of directly following the technological evolution that has occurred over the last four decades, but I want to make a parenthesis here. Whoever is reading these first lines of my article must think that I am old, but I warn you here that I am not old, I only started working very early.  

Jokes aside, I must confess that I am still impressed by the growth in the volume of investments made in information technology in recent decades, as well as the speed of adoption of these technologies. 

To facilitate the understanding of my statement above, I refer to the IT investment figures published by IDC annually, including a source of information for the Study published by Brazilian Association of Software Companies – ABES, entitled "The Brazilian Software Market – Panorama and Trends”, to clarify the first part of the statement I made.

As can be seen in the table above, we have almost doubled investments in IT in each of the last three decades. At 1989-1999 decade, known as the PC/Server era, investments in IT amounted to US＄ 7 trillion of dollars. At next decade, 2000-2010, the Web/Internet era, investments jumped to US$ 13 trillion dollars, practically double the previous decade. In the last decade, 2011-2021, known as Cloud/Mobility technologies, investments in IT reached almost US＄ 23 trillion dollars, once again almost doubling investments in IT compared to the previous decade. 

To exemplify the second part of my statement, that is, regarding vspeed of adoption of new technologies, I bring some information obtained on the internet about the time needed for some technologies reach the mark of 100 million Users.

 

By way of example, the cell phone took almost 16 years to reach the mark of 100 million users. A Internet he took 7 years to reach the same mark, the Facebook he took 4.5 years, The WhatsApp 3.5 years, The Instagram 2.5 years, The TikTok 9 months and, until a few weeks ago, the ChatGPT was the record holder with less than 2 months to reach the 100 million user mark. Recently the Meta social network, the application Threads, reached the same mark in incredible 5 days, displacing ChatGPT from this historic brand.

I remember that when I set up my company, in mid-1980s, when we were present a new technology to a client, it was something to be available in 2, 3 or up to 5 years. Today, when we talk about a new technology, it is already available and, probably, our customers are already testing it to meet some specific demand.

The technological evolution we will see in the next 2 to 3 years will be much more vigorous than what we have experienced in the last 10 years. A decade that we are living (2021-2030), which should be recognized by the mass adoption of Artificial intelligence, will certainly maintain the tradition of almost doubling investments in IT in relation to the previous decade, which means that we should have US order investments＄ 45 trillion dollars in this period, which is more than the GDP of the USA and China combined, the two largest economies in the world.

investments in Cloud, IoT, Artificial Intelligence, BI, IT Security, 5G, Connectivity, among many other exciting technologies, will guarantee great opportunities for Companies willing to explore this Market in the coming months.  

One of the factors that has limited Brazil's competitiveness is its low productivity, and one of the most efficient ways to gain productivity comes from investments in technology, in innovation. This is a great opportunity for the IT Market in the coming years, especially in Brazil based on what was previously explained. 

The use of new technologies and their impact in Brazil, which are the subject of an ABES Study, the Brazilian Software Market – Panorama and Trends, give a little insight into the dimensions of the opportunities that open up to software companies in a country that is at an important moment of economic recovery. The important thing is for Companies to be attentive to monitor this evolution and identify opportunities based on their expertise and knowledge, so as not to miss this important window of opportunity that we will have in front of us.

The adoption of technology allows the construction of a More digital and less unequal country. Offering digital services creates a better user experience and better service for citizens. Technology can be an important instrument for reducing inequality, allowing access to health, education, infrastructure, public services, to any citizen, regardless of gender, ethnicity, birthplace, culture.  

Let's work for a More digital and less unequal Brazil? 

*Jorge Sukarie is a member of the board of the Brazilian Association of Software Companies (ABES), founding partner and president of Brasoftware.

Notice: The opinion presented in this article is the responsibility of its author and not of ABES - Brazilian Association of Software Companies