Business Focus provides at-a-glance statistics and
commentary on spending priorities and trends across particular
sectors. Here we look at central government.
Among large central government departments, the per-desktop
annual spending on IT of just over £6,000 is substantially less
than the UK business average of nearly £8,500.
However, average spending in smaller government departments
outstrips the average IT spend among small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs), reaching nearly £3,600 against a small-business
industry average of £3,100 per desktop per year.
Given the relative consistency of IT spending across central
government, that mismatch demonstrates the relative lack of
investment in IT among smaller businesses. SMEs’ spending per head
on IT is one-third that of larger organisations – a trend that was
highlighted by last month’s DTI Security Breaches Survey, which
showed that small businesses are under-investing in IT
security.
In central government, the most striking aspect of spending on
IT is how much goes on IT services. This area consumes about 60% of
the per-desktop annual budget, largely driven by the government’s
major outsourcing contracts.
The analysis is based on Computer Weekly’s database of more than
60,000 IT budget holders, twice yearly user IT expenditure surveys,
CBI/Kew senior executive surveys, government surveys, government
demographic data, HM Treasury economic forecasts and Cambridge
Econometrics industry forecasts.
Further
details www.kewassociates.co.uk
Click here to see the figures >>