• Last year it grew by 13 pc, reaching revenues of EUR 2.42 bln * 65 pc of the revenues came from exports * Software industry’s potential is EUR 6 bln by 2020
The revenues registered by Romanian software and IT services companies grew by 13 per cent year-on-year in 2014, to EUR 2.42 bln, according to the “Software and IT Services in Romania” report authored by Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC) and published by the Software Industry’s Employers’ Association (ANIS). The forecast for this year points to a year-on-year growth of 14 per cent, while the average annual growth rhythm is estimated at 11 per cent in the next 3 years.
Approximately 65 per cent of the total revenues registered in 2014 came from exports, up from the previous year’s 60 per cent level.
“The software and IT services industry is one of the best-performing industries that Romania currently has, given its growth rhythm which is 4 times higher than the one estimated for the whole economy. In 2014 the IT&C industry registered the biggest GDP share so far – 6 per cent, of which 2.5 per cent was generated by software and IT services. The report authored by our PAC partners shows that the growth trends, particularly in what concerns exports, are solid and are not based on temporary opportunities,” ANIS Vice President Teodor Blidarus explained.
“Today the Romanian software and IT services industry has a single very solid barrier that prevents it from continuing to grow by 15-20 per cent per year: the number and training level of specialists. Romania finds itself today in front of a huge opportunity to become a regional engine for IT services and software products, provided the education system evolves fast and the fiscal facilities help create added value. The software and IT services industry’s theoretic potential surpasses EUR 6 bln by 2020, however this level will not be attained in a chaotic manner but only in an extremely organized framework consisting of the educational system, curriculum, fiscal facilities, the correct use of European funds and attracting massive investments,” explained Eugen Schwab, Pierre Audoin Consultants Vice President Romania & CEE.
The revenues registered by Romanian companies from sales on the domestic market resulted in proportion of 32 per cent from public administration projects, 16 per cent from projects implemented for industrial clients, 14 per cent from projects for financial-banking clients, 9 per cent from projects for telecom companies and 8 per cent from projects for utilities sector clients.
Export revenues resulted in proportion of 40 per cent from projects for industrial sector clients, 17 per cent from projects for services sector clients, 16 per cent from projects for financial-banking sector clients, 11 per cent from projects for retail sector clients and 5 per cent from projects for insurance sector clients.
The PAC report authored at the initiative of ANIS shows that the development of niche software products, spin-off projects from larger companies, the building of smaller but reliable IT services businesses or even importing promising technologies and educating the local market could be the most important business development opportunities in this domain in the following years.
The “Software and IT Services in Romania” report is an ANIS project implemented by Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC) in February-June 2015 and is at its second edition. The first edition of the report was published in November 2013.