CIOs May Get More Adventurous in Spending IT Bucks

By Erika Morphy
E-Commerce Times
10/19/10 2:17 PM PT

Growth in IT spending will be sluggish over the next few years, suggested Gartner, but companies will likely be more creative in making their investment decisions, becoming far more willing to spend on new technologies such as social network analysis, cloud computing and context-aware computing.

Global corporate spending on IT is entering a new cycle, characterized by lackluster or modest growth and, at the same time, new opportunities with new technologies. So said research firm Gartner (NYSE: IT) at its annual Symposium/ITxpo, held this week in Orlando, Fla.

From a 30,000-foot view, the growth story is a modest one. Global businesses will spend about US$2.4 trillion this year on computers, servers and other such information technology hardware, Gartner forecast. Next year, that number will jump 3.1 percent to $2.5 trillion, and it will reach $2.8 trillion by 2014.

The growth will be dispersed unevenly, though. Vertical industries such as financial services and manufacturing will not open their purses until 2012 or 2013.

Changing Trends

Despite this rather conservative level of spend, Gartner foresees a more adventurous attitude on the part of companies as they approach their IT purchases.

Despite the recession, businesses have developed a more mature understanding of IT, Gartner observed, and they are likely to ask whether a particular investment is good for the enterprise before asking what it costs.

Companies are also becoming far more willing to spend on new technologies such as…

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