Synopsis
This report presents the findings from a survey of 168 retailers regarding their Information & Communications Technology (ICT) budgets and staff allocation. The survey investigates how retailers currently allocate their ICT budgets across the core areas of ICT spend, namely hardware, software, IT services, communications and consulting.
Scope
Understand how ICT budgets are set to change in 2013 in terms of their overall size.
Appreciate how budgets are allocated across the core elements of ICT spend, including hardware, software, services, communications and consulting.
Learn how ICT money is being spent in areas such as the data centre, applications, IT management and the network.
Establish how IT staff are typically allocated within retailers.
Gain insight into with whom retailers plan to spend their ICT money.
Summary
Why was the report written?
In order to provide a depth of insight into ICT vendors’ and service providers’ potential customers.
What is the current market landscape and what is changing?
According to Kable Market Research’s survey, hardware has been receiving the highest allocation, garnering X% of the average ICT budget in 2012, however, retailers are fairly keen to invest in software, as X% of total ICT budgets are being allocated to this area in 2013, an increase of X% compared to 2012.
What are the key drivers behind recent market changes?
The increasing demand for enterprise applications such as customer relationship management (CRM), and supply chain management (SCM) along with application lifecycle products are driving retailers’ investment in software as they look to streamline their operations and improve their time to market.
What makes this report unique and essential to read?
Kable Market Research Market Research has invested significant resources in order to interview CIOs and IT managers about their IT Budgets. Very few IT analyst houses will have interviewed 160+ ICT decision makers in the retail industry in H2 2012.
Reasons To Buy
Retailers have been making decent investments in hardware in 2013, primarily driven by the current transformation taking place in the retail sector owing to the increasing adoption of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets as point-of-sale (POS) terminals.
According to Kable Market Research’s survey, retailers are allocating a significant percentage of their ICT budgets to internal project development and maintenance in 2012 and 2013 in order to introduce agility & transparency into their operations and support innovation.
Retailers are allocating a moderate proportion of their hardware budget to security technologies. The increasing adoption of mobile technologies, cloud computing and various digital payment modes requires retailers to be proactive in updating their security features.
As retailers are facing challenges relating to cutting costs, improving customer services, and integrating various functionalities and channels, they are planning to adopt on-demand software.
Analysing the data by size of respondent reveals that large retailers are placing more emphasis on investment in cloud services, whereas small and medium-sized retailers are spending more on desktop services and user support.
Table of Contents
1 Trends in ICT budgets
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Survey demographics
1.3 ICT budget changes
1.4 ICT budget allocations by core technology area
1.5 ICT budget allocation by function
1.6 ICT spending by entity
1.7 IT staff distribution
2 Detailed ICT budget allocations
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Hardware budget breakdown
2.3 Software budget breakdowns
2.4 Third party IT services expenditure
2.5 Telecommunications budget
3 Summary
3.1 Retailers are focused on investing in technologies that help them enhance their productivity and multi-channel capabilities.
4 Appendix
4.1 Definitions
4.2 Further reading
4.3 Contact the authors
List Of Tables
Table 1: Retail – enterprise ICT survey geographic breakdown
Table 2: Retail – enterprise ICT survey breakdown by size band (number of employees)
Table 3: Recent and expected ICT budget changes among retailers
Table 4: Retailers’ (external) ICT budget allocation, 2012 and 2013
Table 5: Retailers’ ICT budget allocation by function, 2012 and 2013
Table 6: Retailers’ (external) ICT budget allocation by entity, 2012 and 2013
Table 7: Average allocation of full-time IT staff members within retailers
Table 8: Retailers’ average hardware budget allocation
Table 9: Average allocation of software budgets within retailers
Table 10: Retailers’ average software budget allocation by technology
Table 11: Retailers’ average IT services budget allocation
Table 12: Retailers’ average IT consulting services budget allocation
Table 13: Retailers’ average telecommunications budget allocation
List Of Figures
Figure 1: Retail – enterprise ICT survey geographic breakdown
Figure 2: Retail – enterprise ICT survey breakdown by size band (number of employees)
Figure 3: Recent and expected ICT budget changes among retailers
Figure 4: Retailers’ (external) ICT budget allocation, 2012 and 2013
Figure 5: Retailers’ ICT budget allocation by function, 2012 and 2013
Figure 6: Retailers’ ICT budget allocation by entity, 2012 and 2013
Figure 7: Average allocation of full-time IT staff members within retailers
Figure 8: Retailers’ average hardware budget allocation
Figure 9: Average allocation of software budgets within retailers
Figure 10: Retailers’ average software budget allocation by technology
Figure 11: Retailers’ average IT services budget allocation
Figure 12: Retailers’ average IT consulting services budget allocation
Figure 13: Retailers’ average telecommunications budget allocation
