Global spending on the digital transformation (DX) of business practices, products, and organizations is forecast to reach $US1.8 trillion in 2022, an increase of 17.6% over 2021. According to a new update to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Digital Transformation Spending Guide, DX spending will sustain this pace of growth over the 2022-2026 forecast period with a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.6%.

"IDC expects to see aggressive DX technology investment growth in 2022 following a minor slowdown during the pandemic period," said Craig Simpson, senior research manager, Customer Insights & Analysis at IDC.

"As organizations accelerate their pursuit of a digital-first strategy, they are channelling these investments into both internal operations and external direct engagement. The investments in internal operations are largely focused on improving efficiency and resilience while customer experience transformation has become a DX priority for many companies."

Operational investments stand out among the 51 strategic priorities included in the DX Spending Guide. The DX priorities that will see the largest investment in 2022 include Back Office Support and Infrastructure, Smart Manufacturing, and Digital Supply Chain Optimization. Together, these three investment areas will represent more than $US620 billion in DX spending this year.

Other operational priorities that will see significant investments in 2022 include Connected Assets, Facility Management, and Operationalizing Data and Information. Customer experience investments, such as Omni-Experience Engagement, and Omni-Channel Commerce, will account for more than $US300 billion in DX spending in 2022.

The DX strategic priorities that will experience the fastest spending growth over the five-year forecast include narrowly focused priorities like Frictionless Insurance (27.4% CAGR) and Legal (27.0% CAGR) as well as operational priorities such as Enterprise and Resource Management (26.0% CAGR).

From an industry perspective, the discrete and process manufacturing industries will account for nearly 30% of worldwide DX spending this year, followed by the professional services and retail industries. The utilities and banking industries will also see DX spending of more than $US100 million this year.

Meanwhile, the financial services sector will deliver the fastest DX spending growth over the 2022-2026 forecast period, with the securities and investment services, insurance, and banking industries all forecast to have five-year CAGRs of 19% or more.

The United States will be the largest geographic market for DX spending in 2022, accounting for nearly 35% of the worldwide total. Western Europe will be the second largest region for DX spending, followed closely by China. China will also deliver the strongest growth in DX spending with a five-year CAGR of 18.5%. Latin America will be the region with the second fastest growth with a CAGR of 18.2%.

"Digital transformation spending in EMEA will be nearly $US469 billion in 2022, an increase of 16.7% over 2021 and underlining the strong importance of DX projects across industries in Europe," said Angela Vacca, senior research manager, European Industry Solutions, Customer Insights & Analysis.

"The highest growth will be in the finance and manufacturing industries where Big Data and Artificial Intelligence related use cases will dominate across financial institutions and IoT and robotics related use cases will be growing very dynamically among manufacturing companies. In Central and Eastern Europe, the Russia-Ukraine war will delay investments for the current year impacting across many sectors, particularly the resource industry. Supply chain disruptions will also impact some manufacturing and distribution segments while disruption of networking and IT supply chains will contribute to the postponement of some DX projects in the telecom industry."