Sunday, 14 July 2013

Gartner forecasts a return to IT investment as economy improves

Global IT spending is set to reach $3.7tn by 2014 as the economy improves, according to Gartner's Worldwide IT Spending Forecast.Spending on mobile devices is set to increase
by 6.5% in 2014 to $740bn, compared to $695bn in 2013.Speaking to Computer Weekly, Richard Gordon, research vice-president at Gartner, said: “We are seeing a lower growth in 2013 due to spending being deferred due to folks holding on to smartphones as new operating systems extend the life of handsets.”The data does not take into account whether devices are being bought by IT or by the consumer. Gordon added: “Enterprise IT spending on devices will decline but spending will be picked up by the consumer.”Depending on how companies account for purchases, Gordon did not expect IT budgets to change as a result. He said the IT budget was shifting.

"Businesses are outsourcing and using software as a service (SaaS), rather than investing in their own datacentres," he added.Enterprise software spending is on pace to grow 6.4% in 2013. Gartner's Worldwide IT Spending Forecast showed expanded spending on e-commerce, social and mobile as organisations boost customer relationship systems.According to Gartner, buyers in the customer relationship management (CRM) market are focusing on technologies that enable more targeted customer interactions in multichannel environments – including online channel and marketing campaign management – and technologies enabling customer loyalty management.“Across the board we expect organisations to make strategic investments in CRM. Companies want to invest in big data, social and multichannel marketing to improve CRM,” Gordon explained.The improving economic climate will boost services, according to Gordon.

“As the economy improves there will be an increase in consultancy spend with big programmes around social and mobile as companies make strategic investments in these areas.”Worldwide IT spending forecast (billions of US dollars)Source: Gartner (July 2013)He said Gartner was seeing a decline in the growth of client operating systems, reflecting the decline in the PC industry.The forecast also showed a gradual shift towards SaaS-type licensing over traditional software licensing.

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