Global IT spend to grow 3.2% in 2019: Gartner
Driven by increased cloud adoption, worldwide information technology (IT) spending is projected to total $3.8 trillion in 2019, an increase of 3.2% from expected spending of $3.7 trillion in 2018, according to a latest forecast by market research firm Gartner.
Global spending for devices—PCs, tablets and mobile phones—is forecast to grow 2.4% in 2019, reaching $706 billion, up from $689 billion in 2018, the report said.
“While currency volatility and the potential for trade wars are still playing a part in the outlook for IT spending, it’s the shift from ownership to service that is sending ripples through every segment of the forecast,” John-David Lovelock, research vice-president at Gartner, said in a statement on Thursday.
“What this signals, for example, is more enterprise use of cloud services instead of buying their own servers, they are turning to the cloud,” Lovelock said.
Enterprise software spending is forecast to experience the highest growth with an 8.3% increase in 2019.
Software as a service (SaaS) is driving growth in almost all software segments, particularly customer relationship management (CRM), due to increased focus on providing better customer experiences.
Cloud software will grow at more than 22% this year compared with 6% growth for all other forms of software.
While core applications such as ERP (enterprise resource planning), CRM and supply chain continue to get the lion share of dollars, security and privacy are of particular interest right now.
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