by Hovhannes Avoyan
| Feb 03, 2010
Analysts Gartner released a report that says IT spending globally will grow this year a total of nearly 5% over 2009 and reach $3.4 trillion.
From a “Great Recession” point of view, that’s good news because IT spend actually fell by nearly that much from 2008 to 2009. Plus, it’s a change from Gartner’s previous estimate earlier this year that IT spend wouldn’t hit 2008 levels until next year. Gartner’s prediction follows forecasts by other research firms and technology companies of a huge IT spending surge.
“Although recovery will be slow, over the next 12 to 18 months, gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to increase, consumer confidence is expected to improve, and the availability of credit should increase,” said Gartner Research Vice President Richard Gordon in a statement, reported by cnet.com. “At the same time, pent-up demand for new technologies will be released as enterprises focus on new growth opportunities and increase spending plans.”
Every major segment will feel the blessings of new investment, including hardware, software, IT services, and telecommunications.The rebound should be more gradual in mature markets like the U.S. (2.5% growth) and in Western Europe (more than 5% growth) and in Japan (1.8% growth). Meanwhile, look for spending to jump a more robust 9.3% in Latin America, 7.7% in the Middle East and Africa, and 7% in Asia Pacific countries.
I’d bet my last nickel that those new technologies Gartner is predicting that companies will invest in include cloud and virtualization services. I believe that, yes, IT departments and the CIOs that oversee them will pump up spend but still retain a mentality of thriftiness.
Smart spending is what I call it, and the Cloud, because it allows firms to expand computing resources without investing in expensive, maintenance-heavy servers and data centers, is the perfect example.
