Dive Brief:
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Market research company Gartner revised its worldwide IT spending forecast downward last week, projecting it to decline by 5.5 percent this year. The Gartner Worldwide IT Spending Forecast is the leading indicator of major technology trends across the hardware, software, IT services and telecom markets.
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The stronger dollar is resulting in price hikes on hardware, which is having a negative effect on spending.
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IT spending is now on pace to total US$3.5 trillion this year, the company said.
Dive Insight:
Despite the revised projections, IT activity is stronger than the spending indicates, according to John-David Lovelock, research vice president at Gartner. Price declines in segments such as communications and IT services, and the move to cloud-based services, mask an increase in activity, he said.
The lower projection is offset by stronger-than-expected mainframe upgrades and increased expectations for spending on hyperscale server infrastructures that power public and private clouds.
In the data center, enterprises are expected to defer upgrades as a means of offsetting price increases. On the software side, increasing software-as-a-service (SaaS) competition is providing IT buyers with the upper hand.
