Although 69% of organisations interviewed for this survey outsource digital and ICT work to other countries, more than half of the respondents (55%), indicated that they service other international markets from South Africa.  By way of definition international, or globally traded services (GTS), can be defined within different modes including cross-border trade where goods and services are delivered from the territory of nearshore or far-shore countries into the territories of other markets. Another mode – consumption-abroad – includes the supply of services from one country to consumers in another country.[1]

Those organisations that service global markets from South Africa predominantly service other African countries (30%), the United Kingdom (22%) the United States (16%) and Australia (13%). Other markets serviced from within South Africa include Germany (7%), France (7%) and Canada (5%). This key finding points to the fact that South African skills and expertise are also very much in demand globally, and indicates the significant role that the skills ecosystem has in enabling the country to compete effectively across various areas of global and digitally-traded services.