As business started winding down for December, and people wondered where 2015 had gone, alarm bells were increasingly ringing over the state of the economy. Major economic indicators -- from consumer to business confidence, the BankservAfrica Electronic Transfer Index, and the Purchasing Managers Index -- were pointing to a decline in the economy and economic activity. The economy really started going south in the second quarter when gross domestic product declined 1.3 percent, pointing to the increasing likelihood of a recession, which was narrowly avoided in the third quarter. At the end of November, Statistics SA issued its third-quarter numbers, showing gross domestic product gained just 0.7 percent.

Investec chief economist Annabel Bishop says the figure, stripping out annualisation, was actually close to 0.1 percent, 'meaning the economy essentially saw virtually no growth between the quarters'. Yet the IT sector seems to have proven itself to be resistant to the tribulations affecting the mining, manufacturing and other industries. How the IT sector will fare over the longer term remains to be seen, but hardware price hikes and slower revenue growth seem a given. Since the IT sector has been resilient to economic headwinds, it may even benefit as companies cut costs.