Players: A decline in the software and service market is inevitable

“It will certainly be a much lower drop than on the hardware or infrastructure segments, but there will be a decline. Major companies cut investment budgets. Money will be allocated this year for the current needs of firms, on the critical areas of the business,” said Horatiu Berdila, Chief Executive Officer of Romsys, a major player on the IT service market.

Eugen Schwab Chesaru, Managing Director for Central and Eastern Europe of the Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC) research and strategic consultancy for the software and information technology service industry, told the Mediafax news agency that the service market will slide 2-5 percent this year, to €350 million.

“The drop in the financial capacity to invest in IT projects with a medium and long-term return, and the general panic are leading to a worsening of the situation created by the decline in demand in many sectors,” said Schwab Chesaru.

As far as the enterprise resource planning (ERP) market is concerned, the company official does not rule out a decline in 2009. In November, PAC estimated that the Romanian ERP market will have a growth rate below eight percent this year, compared to 15 percent in previous years.