A recent survey of Australian managers, released by Dataquest, indicates a great disparity in IT spending between industry sectors. (See Table 1.) It also showed that the biggest IT growth rates were in the smaller industries rather than the larger industries.
Government and Military
As Table 1 indicates, the Australian Government contributed A$636 million to IT expenditures this year, placing seventh out of all industry segments. The largest growth opportunities are expected in the defense sector which is currently facing considerable restructuring. However, less investment is expected in other government sectors due to cutbacks, as seen by the recent decision to outsource government IT to the private sector.
Business
According to the survey performed by Strategic Research for Dataquest, the total amount spent on corporate IT this year was A$12.14 billion (US$9.5 billion) where an overall growth rate of 7.2 percent is predicted for the next twelve months. (Computers)
The manufacturing industry, which spent A$2.6 billion (See Table 1) this year in IT, places first of the ten industries (manufacturing, public administration, finance and business services, wholesale and retail trade, community services, utilities and construction, personal and other services, transport and storage; agriculture and mining and communications). The industry is currently restructuring and therefore a growth rate of 4.5% is projected over the next year.
Although the tourism and economy sector placed sixth among industry sectors by spending A$645 million, their growth rate is the highest. This is primarily due to Internet related costs.
(The communications sector, specifically Telstra who dominates the local industry with 60 percent of all activity, did not respond to the survey.)
Table 1: IT Expenditures and Expected Growth Figures by Industry
| Industry Sector | IT Expenditures | Expected Growth |
| Manufacturing | A$2.6 billion | 4.5% |
| Finance and Business Services | A$2.55 billion | 9.1% |
| Community services | A$1.68 billion | Unavailable |
| Utilities | A$1.56 billion | 11.3% |
| Wholesale and Retail | A$903 million | 11.7% |
| Tourism and Economy | A$645 million | 13% |
| Government | A$636 million | Unavailable |
| Agriculture | A$603 million | 7.3% |
| Communications | Unavailable | Unavailable |
Source: Computers, "Small Businesses Spend Big on IT".
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URL: http://www.http://gurukul.ucc.american.edu/initeb/lk0767a/australi.htm
Author: Linda Kallmeyer
Last Update: May 6, 1997