Gartner revises 2010 global IT spend forecast

Global toil: IT spending has been downcast due to age of austerity

Gartner has lowered its outlook on global IT spending for 2010, in part due to the bashing the euro has received from the US dollar this year.

But despite this, global IT spend is forecast to hit $3.35tn (£2.25tn) in 2010, an increase of 3.9 per cent on the 2009 figure of $3.22tn, the analyst claimed. Gartner’s initial forecast was of 5.3 per cent growth in 2010.

Richard Gordon, research vice president at Gartner, said: “The European sovereign debt crisis is having an impact on the outlook for IT spending. The US dollar has strengthened against the euro during the second quarter of 2010, and this trend will likely continue in the second half of 2010, which will put downward pressure on US-dollar-denominated IT spending growth."

Public spending across Europe is predicted to take a hit as governments struggle to bring budget deficits under control and reduce debt, Gordon said, adding that the future is cloudy for private sector firms as well.

"Private-sector economic activity will also likely be hindered because of the direct impact of austerity measures on key government suppliers and the indirect impact caused by the 'ripple effect'. An effective policy response will be critical to stimulate investment in general and in IT in particular,” he said.

In the breakdown, global hardware spend is set to reach $365bn this year, an increase of 9.1 per cent on 2009, Gartner revealed.

“The computing hardware sector continues to benefit from a healthy PC sector, which accounts for two-thirds of total spending in this area, and we expect PC shipments to remain robust throughout 2010 and 2011," Mr Gordon said. "Consumer shipments will continue to be powered by strong mobile PC uptake, while professional shipments will be buoyed by a new replacement cycle and migration to Windows 7."

Services are set to grow 2.9 per cent, with software spending growing 3.1 per cent, Gartner said.