The IT industry has been shifting more and more from raw CAPEX (capital expenditures) towards scalable operations spending (OPEX) over the last few years, as growing demand from all sizes of enterprise customers for high-speed/anywhere data access combines with the ongoing emergence of cloud computing architectures. Global IT spending is forecast (Gartner’s Q3 2014 reportage) this year as growing 2.6% (or 3.2% if exchange rates are flattened) to around $3.8T, with 13.16% growth forecast over the next four years, as IT spending hits roughly $4.3T. The global IT services market is also forecast as tracking the broader industry metrics nicely, with around 3.8% concurrent growth in U.S. dollars and estimates that the overall IT services market will climb some 13.75% by 2018, up to $1.1T from the $967B estimated this year.
Last year’s Gartner data on the IT outsourcing (ITO) market in particular placed the overall market size at around $288B, up 2.8% year over year, further illustrating the CAPEX to OPEX shift and underscoring demand emanating from the growing security risk of allowing critical IT infrastructure to be managed by in-house amateurs. This composite demand curve has led to major success for companies like Cognizant (NASDAQ:CTSH), as well as Information Services Group (NASDAQ:III), which has seen particularly solid traction in the Asia Pacific region.
Demand remains high for scalable IT chain solutions moving forward, with SMEs (small to medium enterprises) continuing to be a ripe target for ITO providers, as this class of operation typically lacks the in-house muscle to successfully navigate the increasingly complex IT landscape. The recent Home Depot (NYSE:HD) hack, which has put nearly 56M cards at risk, occurred after months of security warnings by contractors were ignored by in-house IT managers, illustrating how even large enterprises are seriously vulnerable. The Home Depot hack comes fast on the heels of two smaller hacks at the company last year that should’ve sent up red flags, as well as more widespread hacks at other retailers and even at one of the most IT-secured operations in the U.S., the nation’s biggest bank, JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM).
For a retailer like Home Depot, with over 2.2k stores in North America and roughly $79B a year in revenues, an incident like this, which far surpasses last year’s 40M plus card breach at Target (NYSE:TGT), drives home how vulnerable in-house IT solution sets can be (even for large enterprises) and how important letting competent ITOs handle the job of IT infrastructure evolution has become. As businesses become more and more dependent on their IT infrastructure to conduct day to day operations, managers continue to turn to providers who can offer both logistical and cost efficiency improvements, as well as ensure that circumspect security protocols/best practices, backed by up-to-date and best-in-class technologies, are utilized. The same concerns facing large enterprises and SMEs exist for federal, state and local government agencies as well, where the logistical advantages of migrating IT infrastructures to virtualization solutions and SaaS-backed options (software as a service) are strikingly noticeable.
One of the leading specialists in the ITO field today, with a focus on big commercial enterprises, SMEs and government agencies, Infinite Group (OTCQB:IMCI), already has a strong reputation for comprehensive, scalable solutions. Doing everything from project management and process virtualization via cloud, to third party data storage solutions and data backup/disaster recovery, IMCI has come to be known as top provider of managed services, who can be trusted with complex sever management and support tasks like remote monitoring/remote desktop, as well as remediation. Infinite Group even offers services like help desk and call center support.
Advanced solutions like the hybrid, scalable cloud hosting and server/desktop virtualization provided by IMCI offer SMEs in particular a unified communications alternative that not only improves overall operational performance, but addresses the need to support rapidly proliferating mobile platforms, which have become crucial to many businesses. A firm dedication to customer service and the ability to rapidly up-staff to handle prevailing customer demands, is another reason IMCI has seen public and private sector operators alike beat a path to their door, not to mention their steadfast commitment to providing cutting-edge information security options.
In the hectic world of modern IT, SMEs especially require the kind of total-package scalable solutions a company like Infinite Group can provide and their tight-knit team of over eighty IT specialists, backed by an ISO 9000-compliant quality management system, goes a long ways towards making sure each individual client has a tailored solution that is right for their organization.
For more information on Infinite Group, visit: www.igius.com
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