Indian domestic IT market likely to grow between 15-18 percent in 2013

INDIA: Zinnov revealed the list of top 10 IT buzz words for the Indian domestic IT market, which will make the most amount of echo with principal vendors, partners and customers in 2013.

While the IT exports market is getting a mixed feedback, Indian domestic IT market holds significant potential as we enter 2013, it read. With over 5,000 large enterprises and over 10 million SMBs ready to consume IT, the $30 billion+ domestic IT market is expected to grow between 15-18 percent in 2013.

IT solution selling: Standalone sale of hardware, software and services will take a back seat in 2013. More and more companies will focus on creating end-to-end solutions to provide better value to its customers. Approximately 50 percent of all new IT deals in 2013 are expected to be structured around solutions. Accordingly, the Indian market will see a lot of collaboration between hardware, software and service vendors along with enterprise and SMB customers to address the evolving market needs.

New IT solutions for India market: With over 850 R&D centers, India has been a popular destination for many large and mid-sized foreign MNCs in the IT space. As more and more companies eye the opportunities in the local Indian market, R&D and incubation teams will up level their focus on designing new solutions specifically relevant for India market. Usability, feature enhancements and lower price will be the key themes for these new solutions in 2013.

Innovation for emerging markets: Indian R&D centers of foreign MNCs will also be looked upon to deliver innovations for other emerging markets including APAC, Middle East, Africa and New Zealand. India will evolve as a test bed for products for other emerging markets and will be looked upon as a key fulfillment destination for IT needs in these emerging geographies.

Software-enabled datacenters: We saw the buzz around virtualization in 2012. This year will be marked by more and more software eating the datacenter space. Increased use of software at all levels including storage, network, server, security etc. would be looked upon to ensure better flexibility and efficiency in the way enterprises are consuming IT. The ratio of software to hardware in datacenter environment will grow rapidly in 2013.

Channel partner capacity and capability: While the channel partner ecosystem in the country is 12,000 strong, MNCs still struggle to tap the huge SMB opportunity in the country. A lot more focus will be given this year on up leveling the channel partner capacity and capability in the country. Mapping of key metro and upcountry markets for IT consumption and investing into new innovative channels will be a key focus for 2013. This will also add significantly to the growth projections for most  MNCs.

Digital marketing: While print has forever dominated the advertising market, digital marketing will see a much larger focus in 2013. Creating websites, SEO, SEM, mobile marketing etc. would come alive as more and more SMBs start thinking about starting and accelerating their web presence journey. Digital marketing will grow faster than any other form of advertising media in the country. Video and social media based digital marketing will also see rapid innovation in 2013.

Big data: Big data will become reality in 2013 from just being a concept in the last two years. While traditional verticals such as BFSI, Telecom, and Manufacturing will see massive adoption, non-traditional verticals such as Energy & Utilities, Transportation, Smart Cities, and Power, etc., will take big data to a new paradigm. Big data will influence over $1 billion of market including analytics software, middleware and computation platforms and services in the country.

IT related training and certifications: More and more companies will expect its customers to explore full potential of their IT products. Accordingly, skilling and reskilling of customers and channel partners will be a key focus area for 2013. Training and certification on new technologies such as Cloud, Big Data, Virtualization, Automation etc. will see mass scale adoption and rapid growth this year.

Social media: Consumption of all forms of social media will continue to grow rapidly in 2013. India is currently at an inflection point with respect to usage of social media as a marketing and business tool, and customers will derive newer and innovative use cases while using social media going forward. Over 100 million Indians will use social media in some form in 2013.

Start-ups and accelerator partnerships: India currently has over 3,000+ technology focused start-ups. Focus on start-ups will continue to increase in 2013 as number of accelerators, VCs and angel networks scale up their operations. Foreign MNCs will increasingly eye the Indian start-ups space for acquiring solution competencies and talent for local as well as global markets.