Sweden to Become Key Destination for Indian IT Companies: NASSCOM
As a part of its consistent endeavour to cultivate a collaborative global ecosystem, National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), along with Business Sweden and Radar Ecosystem, has released a report - ‘Sweden a key driver of Nordic ICT growth’.
The report offers key driving areas that make Sweden as a potential IT hub, stating that the country is poised to emerge as potential market for the Indian IT-BPM sector.
The report finds that along with having a higher GDP growth compared to the European Union average, the Nordic countries consistently rank among the most business-friendly nations in the world. These countries are also ranked second in innovation globally.
The report infers that amongst all Nordic countries, Sweden has the highest GDP of $550 billion. With big technology names like Truecaller, Candy Crush, Skype and Spotify, Sweden is home to several notable companies.
In the report, Sweden has been identified as the country with 40 percent ($23 billion in 2016-17) of the total share of the Nordic IT spend. Just like Indian markets, the central market trend reflected in Sweden is the drive for digitisation. The country is fuelled by increased demand for IT and digitization across all other industries.
R Chandrashekhar, president, NASSCOM, said: “India and Sweden’s IT ecosystem have a mutual affinity for each other – with both the countries are at the threshold of digitisation, opening multiple opportunities for the countries to collaborate. This report will provide an impetus for IT employees and companies to broaden their horizons and opens its doors to new markets.”
Vineet Garg, BU Head ICT at Business Sweden, said: “Sweden has always been in the forefront of innovation and technology adoption. We have seen a strong growth in interest from Indian IT services companies who want to establish and grow in Sweden to tap the Nordic market. Access to talent, rather than cost, is a key concern for CXOs and Indian players having the relevant competence are well placed to capitalize on this opportunity.”
The fast technology development and Sweden's strong technological tradition is creating new global success stories in many industries. Sweden currently has a 150 percent smart device penetration, which is among the highest in Europe with 14.6 million devices.
The report points out that with a strong underlying economic development, Sweden is witnessing the adoption of new delivery models, such as cloud computing and offshore delivery. This is in congruence with IT industry, where adoption of new technologies is disrupting the IT space.
With most Swedish firms embracing cloud computing at a rapid pace, a growing need for skills in the field is also on the rise. Another technology that is increasingly penetrating the Swedish markets is the Internet of Things (IoT) market in the vehicle, health, banking and logistics space.
The report indicated that Sweden has a strong presence in the manufacturing sub-sectors where there are varied opportunities to develop innovative products like connected cars and digital locks.
In terms of IT consultant market, the report predicts that with an increasing demand for expertise, the trend of increased sourcing will continue as the value of the consulting market is expected to grow by 3.6 percent to a total value of $6.65 billion by 2017.
Almost akin to the Digital India programme, Sweden’s ‘Digital First’ strategy the Swedish government and SKL (the organization for Swedish municipalities and counties) aim to create a public e-government system that meets citizen, organization, and private sector expectations in an increasingly digital society. The report further stipulates that the Swedish public sector is the third largest sector in terms of value added to GDP.
As a country with simple procedures and efficient operations based on a transparent system, Sweden seeks to facilitate establishment of new enterprises. The report states that the country has straightforward system for business startups, limited liability for companies and no Swedish partner needed to start a business.
Business in Sweden also is a probable option because the country is one of the world’s most knowledge-intensive economies, with wage levels that are extremely cost-effective for skilled employees and competitive corporate tax rate of 22 percent. Swedish organizations are also still seeking to increase their exposure to low-cost nearshore and offshore resources.
In addition to offering benefits through labour arbitrage, an increasingly important element of global delivery is providing access to global talent pools for areas in which these skills are required.
