Gartner expects $3.7tn in global IT spending during 2018
Leading US research firm Gartner has predicted in a new report that global IT spending will exceed $3.7tn throughout the course of 2018 – up 4.5% compared to 2017.
“Global IT spending growth began to turn around in 2017, with continued growth expected over the next few years,” said John-David Lovelock, Research Vice President at Gartner, despite uncertainty over Brexit, currency fluctuations and the potential of global recession.
Communication services are expected to harbor the largest portion of this, with Gartner predicting the industry to exceed 1.4tn in spending through 2018.
See also:
However, enterprise software is forecast to be the sector that see’s the highest level of growth this year, with Gartner predicting expenditure in this department to rise from $355bn to $389bn – a 9.5% annual growth.
Further, Gartner expects that spending patterns will begin to shift, as emerging technologies such as IoT, AI and new big data algorithms become incorporated more readily into businesses due to their productive potential, driving industry growth.
“Looking at some of the key areas driving spending over the next few years, Gartner forecasts $2.9 trillion in new business value opportunities attributable to AI by 2021, as well as the ability to recover 6.2 billion hours of worker productivity,” said Mr. Lovelock.
“That business value is attributable to using AI to, for example, drive efficiency gains, create insights that personalize the customer experience, entice engagement and commerce, and aid in expanding revenue-generating opportunities as part of new business models driven by the insights from data.”
Gaining access to this potential will require investment, however, ultimately this should lead to cost savings for the majority of firms who turn to AI-based applications.
