Syscap: IT investment on the up in 2014
Leasing specialist claims UK firms are finally playing catch up to overdue investment in IT
Corporate investment in IT equipment leapt nine per cent last year as firms start to play catch up on overdue refreshes.
This is the claim of leasing specialist Syscap, which revealed that IT investment through leasing in the past year totalled £1.5bn, up nine per cent on the £1.37bn invested the previous year.
The growth is a stark contrast to investment through asset finance, which shrank by 1.7 per cent over the same period from £22bn to £21.7bn.
Drivers in this rise, according to Syscap, are the boom in cloud storage use, an increase in companies supplying tablet computers to staff and a growth in Windows 8 adoption.
Philip White, chief executive of Syscap, said: “Investment in IT by British businesses can be a huge catalyst for economic growth. It has a massive impact on how efficient and globally competitive UK plc can be.
“Cloud computing has completely changed the landscape of data storage globally. Businesses around the world have moved hundreds of thousands of terabytes of data out of in-house storage to the cloud over the past few years.
“That has driven a huge increase in demand for storage at third-party datacentres. A lot of these cloud providers are investing heavily in storage, networking and security, as their clients become more comfortable with the notion of remote storage, and more willing to put sensitive data in the hands of third party providers.
“The penetration of tablets into the workplace has also been a major factor in the increase in IT investment. A massive number of employees across financial services, professional services and the technology sector are now given tablets by their employers to aid their productivity. This comes with a cost that some businesses are choosing to meet through asset finance.
“Even Windows 8, despite a difficult first year in the market, has provided some impetus for businesses to invest in new IT equipment," White added.