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IT spending The total IT spending in Oman in 2009 was $309 million, according to estimates by market experts, half of which was spent on hardware. With a growing economy and crude oil prices stabilising at around $70-80 per barrel, the future of IT looks bright in the coming years. “It is expected that the IT market is going to witness a YoY compounded growth of 5% till 2014,” said the head of one of the largest IT companies in Oman. Apart from ongoing demand in oil and gas sector, verticals like telecoms, financial services and aviation are likely to generate good amount of IT spending. The focus areas for IT investment in the oil and gas are likely to be manufacturing execution systems, ERP financials, ERP human capital management and supply chain analytics. Financial services in general and banking in particular are the next major thrust areas in IT investment. Construction is another industry for the growth of IT where technology is a crucial factor in the sustainable development of buildings, infrastructure and transportation facilities. Real estate is another sector where Omani 6 OER Dossier COMEX 2010 Special
developers and sales organizations look to capture customer data.
Vertical mobility According to World Economic Forum’s Annual Global IT report 2009-10, Oman was ranked 50th out of 133 countries on ‘Networked Readiness Index’. The report notes that the Sultanate has established a secure infrastructure and national IT training and capacity building base, and specifically mentions the launch of the official eGovernment Services Portal. A spokesperson for the Information Technology Authority (ITA) said, “Oman has vastly improved its overall Government Readiness Index to the 19th rank, up by 20 points from last year. This is due to the Omani government’s prioritisation of ICT, in addition to its efforts in procuring advanced technology products for its IT systems.” Oman has also shown good progress on areas like intellectual property protection, mobile penetration, etc. This was made possible as result of the
effective implementation of the ‘National Strategy for Digital Oman & e-Government’ that was unveiled in 2002 to lay the foundation for a Knowledge Society in Oman. More job avenues are created for Omani youth through eOman. The Information Technology Authority (ITA) is providing eGovernment services to individuals and businesses in Oman by establishing knowledge-based industries. Within a very short span of time, ITA has facilitated a number of important initiatives such as e-payment gateway, e-purse and e-transactions etc which are bringing new approaches to the way business is conducted today. Apart from these, ITA is working on a number of key programmes simultaneously. The National PC Initiative targeted at college and university students is one of the priority areas for ITA. The programme will contribute to the Information & Communication Technology (ICT) sector enhancement. The focus will be to strengthen the abilities of the students to own a computer and to facilitate