IT spending predicted to increase

14:15 19th August 2008

Worldwide IT spending will increase by nearly five per cent next year, new research from Gartner has predicted.

The technology analyst has forecast a growth in IT investment of 4.5 per cent, despite the global economic downturn, citing emerging regions of world prosperity and the ongoing replacement of obsolete systems as factors in this increase.

IT services and software are predicted to account for the largest amount of IT spend, while the main area of hardware growth is likely to be in the PC market, which currently represents 60 per cent of the sector's spending.

Jim Tully, Gartner analyst, said: "Organisations are switching from company-owned hardware and software assets to per-use service-based models.

"The projected shift to cloud computing, for example, will result in dramatic growth in IT projects in some areas and in significant reductions in other areas."

The company is also projecting that worldwide IT spending will top £1.7 trillion this year.

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