Big data to create 960K new IT jobs in APAC by 2015: Gartner

As more enterprises invest in big data, 960,000 new IT jobs will be created in the Asia-Pacific region in the next three years, but only one-third of these big data roles will be filled due to a skills shortage, according to a Gartner analyst.

Speaking at Gartner’s annual Symposium/ITxpo on the Gold Coast, Gartner senior vice president and global head of research Peter Sondergaard told delegates that governments and organisations in the APAC region will need to focus on big data education and skills development, such as data science, to remain competitive.

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“Big data creates a new layer in the economy which is all about information, turning information, or data, into revenue,” he said. “This will accelerate growth in the global economy and create jobs.”

However, he added that CIOs need to understand how to deal with hybrid data—the combination of structured and unstructured data—as well as dark data.

“Dark data is the data being collected, but going unused despite its value and leading organisations of the future will be distinguished by the quality of their predictive algorithms. This is the CIO challenge, and opportunity,” Sondergaard said.

IT spending

In addition to a forecast growth in big data jobs, Gartner has also predicted IT spending in APAC to reach US$743 billion in 2013, an increase of 7.8 per cent from 2012.

In the APAC region, this IT spending is forecast to be across the board. For example, the devices segment which includes PCs, tablets, mobile phones and printers is projected to total US$229.7 billion, a 12.3 per cent increase from 2012 spending.

Data centre systems spending is tipped to reach $28.6 billion in 2013, a 9.5 per cent increase from 2012 while software spending will total $33.9 billion, up 11.9 per cent.

In addition, IT services spending will reach $91.5 billion, up 7.5 per cent, and telecom services is projected to total $359.4 billion, a 4.8 per cent increase from 2012.

“In Australia, IT spending is forecast to grow 3.2 per cent next year to reach A$75.5 billion [US$75.3 billion] while spending in New Zealand is forecast to grow 2 per cent in 2013 to reach NZ$11 billion [US$8.6 billion],” Sondergaard said.

According to Gartner, these growth rates are slightly lower than global growth of 3.7 per cent, but higher than most countries in Europe where the average IT spending growth rate is forecast to grow only 1.4 per cent in 2013.

“As global markets improve in 2013 and resume growth, Asia-Pacific remains one of the bright spots of the global IT market, allowing organisations in this region to accelerate competitiveness,” he said.

“Organisations in Asia-Pacific will be able to innovate and compete using what we call the `nexus of forces’, or the intersection of cloud, mobile, social and information.”

Hamish Barwick travelled to Gartner Symposium on the Gold Coast as a guest of Good Technology

Follow Hamish Barwick on Twitter: @HamishBarwick

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