Computer hardware sales in South Africa are forecast to grow over 6% in 2014 to reach R38.6 billion from R36.2 billion in 2013, according to global market research group Business Monitor International (BMI).

Investments in data centre facilities are expected to drive this growth particularly in the server market, according to BMI.

In a summary of its market report on South Africa, BMI adds that “the uptake of cloud-based services, strong growth on the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector and market consolidation” are to dominate South Africa's IT landscape in 2014.

“Local businesses are becoming more comfortable with the idea of virtualisation as security concerns are addressed and the need to improve cost efficiency increases,” says BMI.

“The currency weakness experienced in 2013 has made the local BPO industry more price-competitive compared to other global BPO centres,” says BMI, as it refers to the weakening of South Africa’s rand which has hit record lows over R10 to the US dollar this year.

Meanwhile, BMI says that software sales are forecast to grow around 8% in South Africa from R22.6 billion in 2013 to R24.4 billion in 2014.

“We believe the uptake of cloud-based software, which is less susceptible to piracy, would drive growth in software sales,” says BMI.

Furthermore, BMI says that IT Services Sales are forecast to grow over 9% in local currency terms from R35.3 billion in 2013 to R38.6 billion in 2014 in South Africa.