INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
Australia
Overview
DATA TABLE (Millions US$)
| x | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 (Estimated) |
| Total Market Size | 4600 | 5500 | 5750 |
| Total Local Production | 2700 | 3250 | 340 |
| Total Exports | 1600 | 1660 | 2000 |
| Total Imports | 2500 | 2350 | 1950 |
| Imports from the U.S. | 450 | 480 | 495 |
Exchange rates:
2004 0.74
2005 0.75
2006 0.75
The Australian information technology (IT) services industry accounts for approximately 38 percent of the total IT market. Research group Gartner reported that the Australian IT services market is worth US$5.7 billion.
Over the last decade outsourcing has been one of the single largest contributors to the local services sector, led by the Federal Government's drive to outsource the majority of its agencies’ and departments’ provision of IT requirements. However, many of the Federal Government’s "cluster" contracts have been criticized for cost blowouts and are now being reviewed.
The government may stipulate shorter contract arrangements, and opt for more selective, smaller deals. Of the approximately 200 tenders issued by federal government agencies over the last year, approximately 50 percent are for the provision of IT services to federal agencies.
The Free Trade Agreement between the U.S. and Australia (AUSFTA) has increased opportunities for U.S. IT service providers, including for more U.S. service providers to partner and provide services to the Australian Federal Government.
By far, the biggest players in this market segment are IBM/GSA, EDS, CSC, and HP as well as the big accounting and consulting firms. Collectively these companies account for 65 percent of the total outsourcing market. Local integrators of significant size include Kaz Computing (recently bought by Telstra) and AlphaWest. The federal government accounts for 47 percent of all public sector IT spending. Whilst it may not be possible to compete with the big systems integrators on whole-of-department tenders, opportunities exist to partner with these companies to provide solutions and expertise that they do not have in house.
Best Products/Services
Research group International Data Corporation (IDC) has recently reported that over the next year Voice and Voice over IP (VOIP) services will grow by about 180 percent in the local market. IDC also identified ITIL compliance as another area of strong growth (75 percent), as well as storage over IP (55 percent), fixed wireless broadband (54 percent), document management (54 percent) and wireless LANs (52 percent).
Recent research Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu reported that computer crime in Australia has doubled over the last three years, and now exceeds the United States. Seventy percent of the respondents to their survey have increased expenditures on information security over the last year. Services currently in demand include installing firewall, encryption, virus protection and digital ID solutions as well as providing managed services.
The provision of broadband services is growing in the local market. Recent analysis has suggested that the uptake of Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technologies in companies and households has grown by approximately 200 percent over the last year.
The provision of IT services to the healthcare market is also tipped to grow strongly over the next five years. The Australian healthcare market is worth over US$50 billion and approximately 10 percent of GDP is spent on healthcare. It is estimated that spending on IT in the healthcare market is growing at about 15 percent annually. The federal government is evaluating systems and standards to implement electronic patient records systems for public hospitals. This will provide good opportunities for US applications developers.
Opportunities
- The provision of wireless and fixed broadband. There are approximately 3,500,000 broadband subscribers in Australia and the number of users switching from dial-up to broadband accounts is set to grow strongly over the next few years. Services to run on this technology such as VoIP will also be in demand.
- Provision of IT infrastructure security services.
- Provision of network services such as storage, desktop management and document management.
- General IT security projects
Resources
Trade Shows
CeBIT Australia, 2007
Date: May 1-3, 2007
Location: Sydney Convention & Exhibition Center
Website: http://www.cebit.com.au
The U.S. Commercial Service is organizing a U.S. Pavilion in CeBIT Australia 2007 to provide a cost-effective platform for American companies to introduce their products and technology to a trade audience. Both those companies who are new to the Australian market and those with established distributor relationships are encouraged to participate. Please visit our website at: http://www.buyusa.gov/australia/en/cebit.html for further details and visit Chapter 9 “Trade Events” for more details on events in Australia.
Publications
Australian Reseller News: http://www.Arnnet.com.au
Associations/Government Agencies
Australian Communications Authority: http://www.aca.gov.au
The Australian Communications Authority is the chief regulator of the Telecommunications and Radiocommunications Act.
Australian Information Industry Association: http://www.aiia.com.au
The AIIA is the industry association acting for the local IT industry.
Internet Industry Association of Australia: http://www.iia.net.au
Australia's national industry body for Internet commerce, content and connectivity.
U.S. companies seeking information on the Australian telecommunications market are encouraged to contact Duncan Archibald at the U.S. Commercial Service in Sydney
(email: duncan.archibald@mail.doc.gov )