Gartner: Global IT spending to grow 6.2% in 2018

A report from Gartner has forecast global IT spending to reach $3.74tn through 2018, up 6.2% from the $3.52tn recorded in 2017.

“This is the highest annual growth rate that Gartner has forecast since 2007,” said John-David Lovelock, Research Vice President at Gartner.

See also:

• Digital transformation spending to hit $1.3tn in 2018

• Gartner expects $3.7tn in global IT spending during 2018

• Gartner: IoT security spending to rise to $1.5bn in 2018

Gartner attributes much of this strong growth to the declining US dollar, with the US being the leading international hub for IT. Further, the expectation is that the IT market will continue to maintain this strong growth in line with expected global economic growth.

Broken down, enterprise software spending is forecast to grow 11.1% this year, up from the 8.8% recorded in 2017, whilst the IT services market is forecast to grow 7.4% and the devices market 6.6%.

“Gartner’s figures underline the continued shift toward to ‘digital business’ – as digitalisation continues to impact the way we work, think and live, while adding a whole new layer of complexity to enterprise IT,” said Richard Best, General Manager at Comparex UK.

“Organisations are having to respond to this trend by developing and delivering new digital services – so it’s no surprise that enterprise software will experience the strongest growth of any sector this year, of 11.1%.”

These forecasts indicate that the software industry is expected to grow substantially over the coming years as a result of the growing digital transformation market, with many businesses looking to compete more readily by modernising their operations.