Despite economic concerns, worldwide IT spending will exceed
£1.8trillion in 2008, an increase of 8% from 2007 spending, said
analyst Gartner.
Gartner said much of this growth is based on the
decline in the US dollar. But the estimated worldwide IT
spending growth expressed in constant currency is still forecast to
be around 4.5%.
"The US-led
economic downturn shows no sign of causing a recession in IT
spending," said Jim Tully, an analyst at Gartner. "In subsequent
years we will see reduced growth, but the fundamentals remain
strong. Emerging regions, replacement of obsolete systems and some
technology shifts are driving growth," he said.
Gartner said the IT industry was facing important strategic
issues. It said organisations are switching from company-owned
hardware and software assets to per-use service-based models. This
will impact the industry in various ways.
Tully said, "The projected shift to cloud computing, for
example, will result in dramatic growth in IT products in some
areas and in significant reductions in other areas.
"In general, assets will be utilised with greater efficiency,
and we are assuming that the overall effect on market growth will
be neutral. We also recognise that there is considerable upside
potential for higher growth."
Gartner said worldwide software spending is on pace for the
strongest growth rate in 2008 at more than 10%. IT services
spending ranks a close second with more than 9.4% growth.