Gartner raises global 2012 IT spend forecast

Figure revised to three per cent from 2.5 per cent projected last quarter; telecom services market continues to be the largest in IT spending.

Here is some good news for the technology sector. Research and advisory firm Gartner Inc today revised the information technology (IT) spending outlook up to three per cent for 2012 from 2.5 per cent projected last quarter.

Worldwide, IT spending is on pace to reach $3.6 trillion in 2012, a three per cent increase from the 2011 spending of $3.5 trillion, Gartner said in its latest outlook.

Within the total IT spending, worldwide IT services spending is forecast to reach $864 billion in 2012, a 2.3 per cent increase from 2011.

Demand for consulting services is expected to remain high due to the complexity of environments for global business and technology leaders. Gartner analysts said consulting itself is becoming increasingly technology-based with the rise of analytics and big data, having deep implications on the future of consulting services.

"While the challenges facing global economic growth persist — the Euro zone crisis, weaker US recovery, a slowdown in China —

the outlook has at least stabilised. There has been little change in either business confidence or consumer sentiment in the past quarter, so the short-term outlook is for continued caution in IT spending," said Richard Gordon, research vice-president at Gartner.

There are some bright spots for IT providers. In contrast to the rather lacklustre growth outlook for overall IT spending, Gartner expects enterprise spending on public cloud services to grow from $91 billion world-wide in 2011 to $109 billion in 2012. By 2016, enterprise public cloud services spending will reach $207 billion.

The global telecom services market continues to be the largest IT spending market. Telecom services growth is expected to come not only from net connections, especially in emerging markets, but also in mature markets from the uptake of multiple connected devices such as media tablets, gaming and other consumer electronics devices.

Gartner's global IT spending forecast is relied upon by more than 75 percent of the Global 500 companies in their key technology decisions.