SCOTLAND’S digital technologies industry experienced strong growth in 2015, with 68 per cent of firms reporting rising in sales and 70 per cent expressing confidence about the coming year, according to new research.
The Scottish Technology Industry Survey 2016, published by digital technologies trade body ScotlandIS, also shows more than a quarter of companies reporting an increase in turnover of at least 20 per cent, and a rise from 57 to 60 per cent in firms selling their selling their products or services overseas.
“Our industry has experienced exceptional growth in recent years and 84,000 people are now employed in digital technologies roles across Scotland,” said ScotlandIS chief executive Polly Purvis. “It’s really positive to see that so many of our members are expecting sales growth in 2016 and the increase in the number of companies doing business overseas is particularly encouraging.”
Looking ahead, 81 per cent of businesses expect sales to increase over the next 12 months, while almost three quarters (74 per cent) expect to be on the look-out for recent graduates in 2016.
Software and web development are the most sought after skill sets, followed by business skills such as project management, sales and marketing.
“2015 was an exceptional year in terms of demand for new staff and demand continues to outstrip supply,” Ms Purvis said. “Most of our members report difficulties in finding the staff they need, so we must continue efforts to develop a strong and sustainable talent pipeline.”
Medium sized businesses achieved the best performance in 2015, with 82 per cent reporting increased sales. Forty seven per cent of companies also reported improved profit margins. The proportion of medium sized companies exporting grew from 49 per cent to 70 per cent, and nine out of ten businesses expect sales to increase in 2016.
Scotland’s digital technologies industry generates more than £5 billion in output and, according to KPMG’s Tech Monitor, the number of tech sector enterprises in Scotland grew 43.3 per cent between 2010 and 2015, second only to London at 54.6 per cent.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel