Gartner sees global IT spending rising in 2013

The Gartner Worldwide IT Spending Forecast is the leading indicator of major technology trends across the hardware, software, IT services and telecom markets. Many executives use Gartner’s research and reports in driving strategy for their own organisations.

Although IT spending is projected upwards for 2013, it is important to note that Gartner analysts said much of this spending increase will be the result of projected gains in the value of foreign currencies versus the dollar.

According to Gartner, when measured in constant dollars, 2013 spending growth is projected to be 3.9 percent.

Richard Gordon, Managing Vice President at Gartner, said: “Uncertainties surrounding prospects for an upturn in global economic growth are the major retardants to IT growth.

“This uncertainty has caused the pessimistic business and consumer sentiment throughout the world. However, much of this uncertainty is nearing resolution, and as it does, we look for accelerated spending growth in 2013 compared to 2012.”

The main drivers for this spending growth are seen as enterprise software purchases as well as spending on devices. Worldwide devices spending, for example PCs, tablets, mobile phones and printers, is forecast to reach US$666 billion in 2013, up 6.3 percent from 2012.

“The tablet market has seen greater price competition from Android devices as well as smaller, low-priced devices in emerging markets,” Gordon said.

“It is ultimately this shift toward relatively lower-priced tablets that lowers our average selling prices forecast for 2012 through 2016, which in turn is responsible for slowing device spending growth in general, and PC and tablet spending growth in particular.”

On the other hand, enterprise software spending is forecast to total US$296 billion in 2013, a 6.4 percent increase from 2012.

Gartner believes spending in this segment will be driven by key markets such as security, storage management and customer relationship management.