Market Trends of South Africa Cybersecurity Industry
Growth of digitization across the region
- Digital transformation plays a crucial part in the business landscape in South Africa as companies and businesses across all sectors and industries automate and digitalize business processes while leveraging data to improve decision-making, create value, and augment strategic planning.
- Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, advanced automation was adopted in workplaces at a rate that signified the coming of a digital revolution, where data was gathered along the entire supply and demand chain with the help of digital innovations like sensorization, networked data analytics, and artificial intelligence.
- Most large company leaders in South Africa anticipate that more hybrid work patterns will become the norm over time. The pandemic pushed digitalization, enabling businesses to use their data more wisely to gain insight and become more competitive.
- Moreover, South African countries are making heavy investments in digitalizing their economy. The DCDT is mandated to facilitate South Africa's digital transformation by creating an enabling policy and regulatory environment to encourage digital inclusion and economic growth.
- According to Sophos, on average, 78 percent of organizations in South Africa were victims of ransomware in the year 2023. The total share of organizations in South Africa hit by ransomware attacks in 2022 was around 51%. This significant rise in ransomware attacks plays a considerable role in driving the market's growth significantly.
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IT and Telecommunication Sector to Witness the Significant Adoption of Market
- South Africa has one of the most significant information and communications technology markets in Africa. It possesses technological leadership, especially in mobile software, security software, and various electronic banking services. As an increasingly significant contributor to South Africa's GDP, the country's ICT and electronics sector is thus both sophisticated as well as developing.
- Several international corporates operate subsidiaries from South Africa, including Cisco, IBM, Unisys, Microsoft, AWS, Intel, Systems Application Protocol (SAP), Novell, Dell, and Compaq. It is thus seen as a crucial regional hub as well as a supply base, especially for the neighboring countries.
- Also, the major trend of moving towards cloud-based systems has gained significant momentum in South Africa, especially with the increased improvements in connectivity, reducing cost, and data center infrastructure. The strong entrepreneurial drive within the local IT sector is thus creating a massive demand for cloud-based services. The cloud-based solutions and services offer safer and cheaper alternatives and efficiency gains in operations. However, cloud usage is also vulnerable to piracy and cyber threats. Hence, with the rise in cloud adoption within the region, the demand for cybersecurity is expected to increase exponentially throughout the forecast period.
- Moreover, numerous domestic fiber network providers in South Africa, including Vuma, offer an open-access fiber network that is resold to several retail service providers and has download speeds of up to 1 Gbps. South Africa is connected to the world by five major international subsea cable systems. With Microsoft Azure Cloud and AWS entering the market as a crucial gateway for the rest of Africa, there has been a quick emergence of new CSPs in South Africa, expected to drive growth in the cybersecurity market.
- According to American Tower, in the second quarter of 2022, Vodacom held the largest market share of mobile subscriptions in South Africa, with around 41 percent. Telkom has held the smallest share of the South African market but has grown the most. Such a rise in the telecom sector in the region is expected to aid the market's growth significantly.
