Every day there are so many innovations and developments in the tech world that it has become hard to keep track of everything, as technology industry statistics we have compiled show.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years, surely you’ll relate!

Information technology (IT) is a common term, but only a few people know the meaning. It can be defined as the use of computing services through software, infrastructure, and hardware to store, create, leverage, and exchange information to reach any objective or goal. 

Did you know that there were about 7.4 million people working in the IT industry in the US already in 1998?

This number has grown exponentially since then as the industry has blossomed.

Let’s see what the stats have to say.

  • The US tech industry market is worth around $1.6 trillion.
  • The tech industry is expected to reach a $5 trillion market value by the end of 2021.
  • About 71% of consumers consider texting to businesses an effective form of communication.
  • 68% of tech industry employees in the US are Caucasian. 
  • California saw over 140,000 job postings in the second quarter of 2020.
  • 5G networks are projected to cover 40% of the world in 2024.
  • Artificial intelligence is projected to add $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030.

Technology Industry Overview

The technology industry is one of the fastest-growing sectors on the market. What does this mean for the overall economy? What does it mean for business owners? Let’s find out.

1. The Augmented Reality (AR) market will grow by a CAGR of 100% in the period of 2021–2025.

Retailers and product marketers are introducing AR technologies to improve their shopping experience and making it the future of information technology. 

The AR software and content market is projected to reach a total revenue of $20 billion in 2025. When it comes to Media and Entertainment.

2. The US tech industry market is worth around $1.6 trillion.

As the most significant market globally, the US IT sector holds a 33% market share. Despite having the most significant share of the market, almost two-thirds (67%) of the technology spending is attributed to countries outside the States.

3. 34% of workers believe their jobs will be automated in the next three years.

Seeing their workplace change and adapt to the newest technology, workers aren’t oblivious of technology taking over jobs, but statistics show 78% of employees say they are ready to learn new skills if necessary. However, only 38% of them believe they have enough time to complete the training. 

On the other hand—employers trust that only 45% of the workforce is able to adapt to the changes. 

4. There were around 22 billion devices connected to the internet in 2019.

The Internet of Things (IoT) now links millions of devices that were previously unconnected to the web. 

The technology sector growth reports indicated that the number of internet-connected devices would hit 50 billion in 2020—however, it’s highly unlikely that was the case, as the newest report projects that number in 2030.  

5. 72% of business executives believe artificial intelligence is going to be a business advantage to them in the future.

Due to the instability of the business world and the constant disruption, better management techniques are required that are more efficient than what we previously used. 

While looking at the technology industry outlook in 2022, it is important to consider artificial intelligence, as it can help to make processes better optimized in organizations. Nearly three-quarters of business executives in the world agree with this.

6. Virtual Assistants can reduce costs for businesses by 78%.

Virtual assistants are more cost-effective—but also less stressful. Only 17% of assistants that work remotely have reported feeling stressed or anxious, compared to 37% of employees that work from cubicles.

7. 55% of chief marketing officers see artificial intelligence having a bigger effect on communications and marketing than social media.

More than half of the chief marketing officers of various companies rate AI above social media. These technology growth statistics were obtained by examining consumer attitudes and knowledge in Brazil, the US, Canada, the UK, and China. 

It also shows that almost 60% of them say that companies will need to compete in the AI space to succeed in the next five years. 

8. 82% of business executives believe AI has to potential to reduce paperwork.

There are a lot of repetitive tasks in the workplace that take up more time than they should. This is why information technology industry trends show that the application of AI in the business place can be advantageous. Additionally, about 79% of business executives see the potential of AI in reducing scheduling tasks.

9. 20% of Google searches in the application are voice searches.

Because of the several virtual assistants now available for people to use, voice searches are increasing. This has made people more conversational with technology and their inquiries. The technology industry statistics show 20 out of every 100 Google searches are made via voice searches.

10. 19% of people use Siri for voice searches daily.

This shows the frequency at which people use voice searches, and that number is poised to keep increasing. Additionally, these figures show that software industry growth is increasing, as 37% use Siri, 23% use Cortana AI from Microsoft, and 19% use Amazon Alexa AI at least monthly.

11. The export of US tech goods and services reached over $300 billion in 2020.

The import is close to reaching the milestone of $500 billion—in 2020, the US imported over $492 billion worth of tech goods and services.

The value of exports across all industries in 2020 was $2,131.9 billion, while the US imported $2,810.6 billion worth of goods and services in the same period. 

12. 59% of technology investment in 2021 is driven by technology end of life.

Many factors influence the technology industry growth rates and push businesses to buy new software, services, or hardware, and the biggest one is the end of life. Other factors that affect technology investment are refresh cycles (52%), additional needs/growth (51), project needs (45%), end-user needs (44%), etc.

13. Data recovery and protection industry is projected to grow by more than 9.7%.

The software industry, which comprises of application and system software, will experience massive growth in the coming years. As the world moves towards cloud storage over other forms of storage, the storage software industry will increase by a whopping $15 billion. 

Software industry growth also shows that data recovery and protection - a core field in the storage software market can increase by over 9.7%. So, it’s necessary for businesses to keep track of these changes to know how they can affect them.

14. Tech industry is expected to reach a $5 trillion market value by the end of 2021.

The technology industry market size was first estimated to reach (and surpass) the number in 2020, but the pandemic has changed the predicted course of many industries. If the current 4.2% growth rate upkeeps, the sector will finally reach the milestone in 2021.

The third-quarter report from 2020 showed a market value reaching $4.8 trillion, despite the pre-pandemic data projecting it to get to $5.2 trillion.

15. The number of unique mobile users in 2021 was up by 1.8% since January 2020, according to the technology industry statistics.

In specific terms, this amounts to 93 million people who started using a mobile phone last year. It brought the total worldwide number of mobile phone users to 5.22 billion at the start of 2021. 

This means that out of all the tech sectors, mobile phones are used by over two-thirds of the worldwide population.

Information Technology Industry Analysis—Internet and Social Media

Social media has been getting increasingly significant for both businesses and consumers for years. A lot of communication goes through these channels, but how much time do people really spend scrolling through their favorite social media platforms?

16. People spend an average of 2 hours, 25 minutes every day on social media.

Social media plays a vital role in our daily lives. A testament to the growth of technology over the years is the latest reports estimating social media users will spend 3.7 trillion hours on their favorite platforms in 2021. This equates to over 420 million years. 

The most avid social media users are—by far—Filipinos, who spend four hours and fifteen minutes scrolling through their favorite apps a day.

Similarly, Netflix statistics indicate that people spend about two hours a day on this streaming platform.

17. 59.5% of the global population is on social media in 2021.

The tech industry growth rate in 2022 didn’t slow down, as people turned to the internet and social media amid the pandemic and social distancing rules.

As a result, global digital growth shows no sign of slowing down, with a million new people around the world coming online. This development increases the use of social media. There are now around 4.22 billion social media users, roughly 59.5% of the global population.

18. Visual content is 40x more likely to be shared than any other content on social media.

Video is king, and you can boost your chances of reaching people by posting visual content. Technology industry trends show that even if you understand the value of visual content sharing, you may still be totally at a loss as to which social media sites are best for your visual content. 

Social media has never and will never be one size fits all. Visual content works better on some sites than on others.

19. About 71% of consumers consider texting to businesses an effective form of communication.

And 68% of the buyers want to have the option to do it. A 66% of them would even pay more to a business with text messaging support in place. 

This is mostly because people feel like texting is more comfortable and less time-consuming for them, and they appreciate businesses that are sensitive to their needs.

Information Technology Industry Overview—Has Pandemic Affected IT?

IT is one of the biggest assets of modern-era business dealings. Has it suffered more or less compared to other industries during the pandemic?

20. 68% of tech industry employees in the US are Caucasian.

At the same time, Caucasians make 60% of the US population. Tech industry demographics show that Asians—6% of the total population—are the next most numberable ethnical group in the technology sector, at 14%. 

African Americans account for only 7% of tech workers, despite making 13% of the population. Similarly, Hispanics make 8% of the tech industry, although 18% of the US population are Latinx. 

21. California saw over 140,000 job postings in the second quarter of 2020.

Of the top states for tech jobs, California ranked first in the first half of 2020, despite experiencing a -28% drop in job postings, compared to the same period in 2019. Texas, Virginia, and New York were next on the list.

However, when it comes to states with the fastest IT job openings growth, Maryland and Idaho share the number one spot with a 23% rate. 

22. The number of VoIP subscribers in the corporate world was expected to grow to 204.8 billion by 2020, per the current rate of technology growth.

In the old days, on-premise telephony used to control company communications. However, with the advent and growing use of the internet, we will see more businesses opting for Voice Over Internet Protocol or VoIP instead of on-site contact devices. 

Future Marketing Insights estimated that the number of subscribers in the corporate market segment would have grown to around 204.8 billion by last year. The IT spend by the industry for VoIP has represented about US$ 86.20 billion.

23. In 2022, smartphones will be responsible for 44% of total IP traffic.

Traffic on smartphones should surpass traffic on PCs. PCs accounted for 41% of total IP traffic in 2018, but that figure will drop to 19% in 2022. By then, smartphones will constitute 44% of total IP traffic, up from 18% in 2017.

24. 5G networks are projected to cover 40% of the world in 2024.

The IT industry trends in 2022 show the wireless network is more prominent, broader, and more comprehensive than ever, as 5G enters the IT industry. In many countries, momentum is growing, with service providers accelerating their 5G rollout plans. 

They plan to achieve 40% population coverage and 1.5 billion 5G subscribers by 2024, making it the fastest technology ever to be rolled out on a global scale. This is powered by new, innovative solutions, reusing existing infrastructure, and the spectrum available.

25. Around 27% of devices connected to the internet use ad-blocking in 2021.

The technology growth statistics show that the number of mobile device consumers using ad-block in the US is growing, but not as fast as in other markets. 

Reports imply that only 7% of mobile devices used ad-block in 2020, compared to 5% in 2018. Globally, the number grew by 64% between 2016–2019.

26. More than 90,000 websites get hacked daily.

There are a lot of websites that get hacked daily. Furthermore, information technology statistics show that out of those, about 83% use WordPress, which is the most used CMS. It has up to 22.6 million active websites and owns a 59.7% market share. 

27. More than 1,000 sensitive documents were exposed by 53% of organizations.

Much of the information, documents, and files stored digitally are not protected enough, so they are open to everyone. These sensitive files or data may include health records and credit card numbers. 

Also, a technology industry overview shows that 22% of all folders are available to be accessed by everyone. This puts a lot of sensitive information at risk.

28. A malware attack costs a company $2.4 million on average.

A malware attack can significantly halt the progress of a company and reduce its effectiveness. The average downtime caused by malware is 50 days. 

More companies need to invest regularly in cybersecurity to protect themselves from new malware, ransomware, and other cyber threats.

IT Spending by Industry

How much do industries spend on IT across the globe? With information technology growing faster than any other sector and becoming an indispensable part of almost every business, let’s see how much money is involved in the industry. 

29. 79% of businesses across North America and Europe predict their IT budgets will increase or, at the very least, stay the same in 2021.

Additionally, a high 17% of the surveyed companies believe the budget will decrease in 2021—compared to 8% expecting a budget cut for the IT sector in 2020, the global information technology industry overview showed. 

North American companies 21%) are more likely to have IT budget decreases than European businesses (12%).

30. The Unified Communications Market will be worth $167.1 billion in 2025.

Unified Communications Systems are platforms that can integrate the VoIP system with other solutions for communication management. So, statistics indicating technological growth come as no surprise—the UC market is expected to skyrocket in a couple of years. 

Such devices are often implemented remotely, much like cloud telephony and VoIP. So you don't have to think about storage and maintenance issues. It is for people who prefer communicating through cant messaging, social media, and email instead of talking over the phone.

31. The big data industry will be worth up to $77 billion by the year 2023.

The latest technology industry trends show that big data has changed modern-day marketing over the last ten years. Big data can help in modifying your business model for the better, especially in advertising. 

Reports show that businesses that use big data saw an increase in profit of about 8%, with a corresponding 10% decrease in the overall cost. The belief is that by 2023, the industry will be worth an incredible $77 billion.

32. Artificial intelligence is projected to add $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030.

IT spending by the industry for artificial intelligence is estimated to keep increasing. This is because many executives know AI can change the tech industry as we know it. 

Aside from that, AI is also profitable. It is expected to bring a staggering $15.7 trillion into the global economy by the next decade.

The Takeaway

We can safely say the tech industry will continue to evolve in the coming years if statistics are to be believed. New technology does not stay very long in this industry before being replaced by innovation. 

So, to effectively use these latest technologies, it is essential to be able to think ahead. We hope these IT industry statistics will help guide you in deciding which technology products to invest in and plan better.