Year-end results fell below those anticipated at the beginning of the previous year, with tax changes in 2023 deemed to have a major (34%) and moderate (62%) impact, leading to relatively less optimistic estimates for 2024.
The optimism in the Romanian IT industry has been tempered since the previous year. In the previous edition of the ANIS Sentiment Survey, released at the beginning of 2023, over 68% of respondents indicated they would end the year with an expanded team. However, only 44% of them actually concluded 2023 with a higher number of employees. At the same time, while only 9.5% expected a decrease in staff numbers by the end of 2023, 24% of respondents indicated their company’s team had decreased.
Better news comes from the volume of contracted projects. Initially, 61% of managers expected the number of contracted projects in 2023 to increase, but by the end of the year, 56% reported that these objectives had been achieved. Simultaneously, 30% of companies reported maintaining the volume of projects at a level similar to 2022. A decrease was recorded in only 14% of respondents, although previously more than 30% of companies were more pessimistic in this regard.
Estimates regarding revenues did not undergo major changes in the segment that experienced growth. Thus, while at the beginning of 2023, 65% of companies expected to finish the year with increased revenues, 62% of them succeeded. On the other hand, although only 5% of respondents anticipated a decrease in revenues at the beginning of the year, end-of-year data indicated a decrease for 14% of them.
According to the ANIS Sentiment Survey, 64% of IT companies aim to end 2024 with a larger team than in 2023. 28% of respondents estimate that their team will remain the same this year, and only 8% believe it will decrease. At the same time, 56% of respondent company anticipate higher turnover in 2024 compared to 2023, 34% expect it to be similar, and 10% envisage revenue decline.
ANIS conducted the survey in December 2023 among its member companies, representing approximately 65% of the entire software and IT services sector in terms of revenue.