• Brazil should account for 38% to 43% of the $ 41.7 billion in investments in digital technology in Latin America this year;
• The growing demand for digital transformation is the main reason for this.

IDC Brazil estimates that investments in digital technologies in Latin America will reach $ 41.7 billion by the end of 2019, according to the Valor Econômico newspaper. Brazil should account for 38% to 43% of this amount.

Also according to the consultancy, companies in the region, especially the larger ones, are focusing mainly on five areas: artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, internet of things ( IoT), big data, cloud computing, and information security.

ALSO READ: 2019: An investment Odyssey for startups in Latin America

Particularly in Brazil, corporate spending on these technologies is expected to grow 10.5% this year, despite the slow pace of the economy in the country. The growing demand for digital transformation is the main reason for this: companies must modernize processes, think and develop new business models, so as not to be left behind, and they must do so even in times of crisis.

According to the IDC study published by Valor, companies spending only on data management systems (big data / analytics) and the public cloud should total $ 6.8 billion this year in Brazil. Still, the use of big data and analytics remains relatively low in the country. The same is true of AI, which, according to the consultancy, is still used in most cases for more complex routines within larger organizations.