With the concept of circular economy and sustainability, the need to extend the useful life of devices has become much more evident. Have you noticed that uptick in demand? What opportunities are you seeing in this regard?

Yes, definitely. We perceive a greater interest on the part of the end customer in repairing their devices and that translates into an increase in volume, although it is true that the failure rates of the products have improved a lot in recent years.

In addition, in January of this year, the new consumer regulations came into force, whereby any electronic device purchased after January 1 will have a 3-year legal guarantee. This regulation seeks to reduce electronic waste and promote sustainability, both objectives that we have at ICP Tech. Solutions.

This is going to generate a rebound in the demand for after-sales services and gives us a challenge to create services that support this circular economy.

Icp Tech.solutions are leaders in device repair and maintenance. What makes you hold this position? What sets you apart?

It is especially motivating to lead the after-sales solutions for devices in the sector and it is precisely for this reason that we demand more of ourselves every day in the search for excellence, process efficiency and continuous improvement. In short, we have a constant aspiration for excellence and innovation adapted to the needs of the ever-changing environment in which we live. ICP Tech. Solutions is an engineering company that seeks, through solutions applied to the reverse logistics sector, to provide solutions to all customer needs, providing continuous improvement that enhances their growth and brand within the sector.

You consider yourselves a technological partner rather than an after-sales service center. What are the most common demands from retailers and manufacturers?

Our partners and manufacturers demand agility, real-time information and comprehensive solutions. In such a changing market and where many ranges of products and such varied market niches coexist, it is essential to have real-time control of operations, integrate all solutions under the same node and achieve the greatest possible response agility.

These premises are what our main partners demand of us and are the basis of the ICP group, where information and process control is the key to continue improving them, finding new alternative solutions that increase satisfaction levels and comply the very diverse expectations demanded by the market.

Repurchase, insurance or SAT services. What other services would you like to incorporate into your offer or do you already have in mind?

There is a wide variety of services that we offer from ICP Tech. Solutions: Remote solutions and advice, multi-channel customer communication services via Call-Center, Email, SMS, video call for technical advice on remote solutions or communication, more and more chosen by clients, via WhatsApp, where they can solve any problem in a very close way and at the pace that the client needs.

We have incorporated warranty extension solutions, offering the customer that extra peace of mind at the time of purchase of their electronic device which, given the current socioeconomic environment, becomes essential.

“It is especially motivating to lead after-sales solutions for devices”

In addition, we have developed home assistance solutions seeking to bring the solution closer to the customer in any product range, avoiding having to do without an electronic device, such as a smartphone, for a certain time.

We cannot forget the diversification that we have carried out in recent months, obtaining important approvals to offer after-sales solutions in products such as TV, kitchen items, means of payment, or mobility.

ICP tips for 2023

One of the keys will continue to be innovation. We must continue to think about offering services that provide new solutions and continue to satisfy the needs of customers.

We will continue to bet on the centralization of supply chains and production points. This leads to the possibility of optimizing post-sale processes and optimizing services for different product ranges, taking advantage of the synergies that occur between them: control systems, instrumentation, technical knowledge, etc.

“One of the keys will continue to be innovation”

In particular, we will maintain our commitment to the internalization of our services, offering global solutions at a European level, supported by our offices in the UK, France and Portugal. More and more clients demand global solutions from us. It is a bet that we made years ago establishing these headquarters and we are seeing that ICP is going to gain significant weight in Europe in the coming years.

Finally, one of the points in which both ICP Tech. Solutions and its partners are having an impact is the search for customer satisfaction in everything related to the after-sales service: multi-channel advice (CallCenter, WhatsApp, video call, etc.) , recommendations for the use of products, monitoring of the service executed once it is finished, buyback, staging services, etc. This becomes essential in a market that is increasingly demanding information and product knowledge.

Cloud-powered IT and software services will capture nearly 66% of global IT spending by 2027.

According to Forrester’s ‘Global Tech Market Forecast’ estimates, by 2023, IT spending Worldwide, it will grow by 4.7% to reach 4.4 trillion dollars.

The Middle East and Africa (MEA) and Asia Pacific (APAC) will experience the fastest regional growth despite macroeconomic challenges, slowing liquidity, and geopolitical turmoil.

However, technological investment will continue to grow in the coming years. In 2027, software and IT services will capture 66% of global IT spending, up from 60% pre-pandemic. A boost in cloud application and platform services will contribute to this growth.

In this investment growth, Forrester’s forecast is that the market for public cloud reach $1 trillion by 2026, accounting for almost a quarter of global technology spending.

Despite facing a difficult 2023, IT managers hope to accelerate the growth of their organizations by improving operational efficiency and investing in areas such as R&D, cybersecurity and business digital transformation.

Europe, the lowest growth rate of IT spending

By region, it is expected that IT spending in Europe reached 3.6% this year. High inflation and weak business confidence will persist in the region. In addition, the UK, Italy and Germany will see unemployment rates rise as their economies enter recession. However, technology purchases are expected to grow between 4.8% and 5.5% between 2024 and 2027, thanks to the adoption of enterprise cloud.

In 2023, the consultancy forecasts regional IT spending growth to be 5.6% in the Middle East and Africa. By 2025, Africa’s internet economy could reach $180 billion, more than 5% of the continent’s GDP.

For its part, the Saudi government plans to invest $25 billion in technology. As cloud adoption accelerates, Nigeria and South Africa will see the potential for rapid growth in R&D investment over the next two years.

Investment in software and IT services is a high priority for large companies

The forecast is that IT spending in Asia Pacific for this year is an increase of 5.4%. China is expected to experience annual growth rates of at least 7% between 2024 and 2027. Investment in IT software and services is a high priority for large Japanese companies, while India’s technology spending will grow, presumably, a 9.6% this year. In the longer term, R&D investment will also boost technology spending in the Asia Pacific region.

In North America, IT spending will grow by 5.1%. Interest rate increases, high inflation, and low GDP growth are clouding the prospects for technology spending in this region.

In 2023, US technology spending growth will be 5.4%, down from 7.4% a year earlier. However, technology purchases in North America are expected to grow between 5.6% and 5.8% between 2024 and 2027 due to increased investments in R&D.

For Forrester analyst Michael O’Grady, despite macroeconomic uncertaintyglobal technology spending will exceed $4 trillion by 2023 as technology remains crucial to business.

“Over the next five years, we anticipate IT spending growth to further increase globally. Increased investment in R&D in the Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific and North America; companies in APAC investing more in IT software and services; and accelerating cloud adoption in MEA and Europe will continue to drive technology spending.”

initial image | aidan hancock

As organizations look to become more agile, automate business processes, and build new web and mobile apps to meet consumer demand, tools that automate development are becoming increasingly key. This is especially important as the IT talent shortage continues.

Technologys such as platforms ‘low code’ and no-code, which can automate processes and empower workers to perform tasks, are experiencing significant growth.

This is clear from a recent Gartner study, according to which, in the last four years, sales of low-code applications and without code grew notably, going from 3,470 million dollars in 2019 to 8,000 million expected for this year.

Over the next two years, the forecast is that this segment will be the one that will experience the fastest growth in the information technology market. “hyperautomation”.

With this, the consultant’s forecast is that the ‘low code’ and no-code platforms will grow by 25% to reach 10,000 million dollars in 2023, and 12,300 in 2024. This, as Varsha Mehta, senior research specialist, points out Gartner’s market report, confirms the interest in these Technologys.

“Organizations are increasingly turning to low-code development Technologys to meet the growing demands for faster application delivery and highly customized automation workflows.”

In addition, the company expects hyperautomation Technologys, such as business process automation, robotic process automation, and citizen development and automation platforms, to reach nearly $32 billion by 2024.

The high cost of technological talent and a growing hybrid workforce or working remotely will contribute to the adoption of ‘low code’ technology.

According to a Morgan Stanley report, there are 26 million developers in the world, and it is expected that by 2024, 38 million of these professionals will be required.

Since ‘low code’ technology is designed to fill that void of IT talent By allowing virtually anyone to be a developer, Gartner predicts that by 2025, 70% of new applications developed by enterprises will use low-code or no-code Technologys, up from less than 25% in 2020.

In this scenario, ongoing digitization projects increase the pressure on existing resources. In fact, a Salesforce study found that 72% of IT leaders say project delays now prevent them from working on strategic projects.

‘Low code’, a personal and professional bet

Although low code and no-code platforms are the largest market segment, citizen automation development platforms are expected to grow the fastest, with a forecast of 30.2% by 2023. Among typical use cases stands out workflow automationcreating web-based forms, connecting data and content across multiple software-as-a-service applications, and creating reports and data visualizations.

By 2026, developers outside of IT departments will account for at least 80% of the user base of ‘low code’ development tools

Gartner predicts that by 2026, developers outside IT departments will account for at least 80% of the low-code development tool user base, up from 60% in 2021.

In the same vein, IDC shows that it points out that the global shortage of developers full-time developers will increase from 1.4 million in 2021 to 4 million by 2025. This means that the full-time developer workforce was performing at 90.8% capacity in 2021, but will be at just 84.9 % in 2025.

But at the same time that citizen developers are turning to low-code and no-code platforms, around a third of professional developers are also using these tools to simplify development and speed up construction times, according to Forrester Research.

According to a survey carried out in January by IDC of 380 companies, 48.6% of those surveyed are buying ‘low code’ or no-code platforms to promote innovation internally. The second most important reason for purchasing the software tools (39.3%) was “needs related to the pandemic”.

Low-code platforms require very little coding; instead, they use a set of modular tools to create business applications. By comparison, no-code platforms only require text input for simple formulas or expressions.

All this means that ‘low code’ development Technologys are allowing the creation of more agile and resistant software solutions. These Technologys can be used to compose and recompose modular components and packaged business capabilities to create custom applications adaptable to changing needs.

initial image | Arif Riyanto