IT spending in EMEA to total $1.3trn in 2022 - Gartner
IT spending is transitioning from 'supporting the business' to 'being the business', analyst says
Gartner has forecast IT spending in EMEA to total $1.3trn (€1.1trn) in 2022, up 4.7 per cent from 2021.
The 2022 growth rate will be slower than in 2021, when EMEA IT spending is expected to grow 6.3 per cent, Gartner added.
The analyst claims the biggest change moving forward will be how IT is financed, not how much it is financed.
"IT is transitioning from supporting the business to being the business — which means spending on technology shifts from a cost of operations (selling, general and administrative [SGA]) to a cost of revenue (COR), or possibly cost of goods sold (COGS)," said Gartner research VP, John Lovelock.
"CIOs have a balancing act to perform, saving cash and expanding revenue."
UK spending projected to be higher than EMEA
In the UK, IT spending will reach $223.3bn (€194.6bn) in 2022, a rise of six per cent from this year, according to Gartner.
This is higher than the projected 4.7 per cent growth for total EMEA IT spending in 2022.
Lovelock added: "Organisations in the UK are on pace to increase their IT spending by $14.4bn in 2022, which is more than France, Germany, Italy and Turkey combined.
"Remote work, remote education and telehealth are bolstering IT spending in government, education and healthcare which are among the top growth industries in the UK."
IT spending in Germany is on pace to reach $167.3bn (€145.8bn) in 2022, a 4.4 per cent increase from 2021.
Enterprise software spending is forecast to be the segment with the highest growth in 2022 and beyond.
Gartner added German organisations will focus their spending on devices to respond to the acceleration of remote working and distance education by the end of 2021.
Devices spending is expected to climb 18 per cent in this year and will remain high, reaching $24.2bn (€21bn) in 2022.
Cloud spending
In EMEA, enterprise software spending is estimated to have the highest growth in 2022, driven by the rise in cloud spending.
"Since the start of the pandemic, cloud delivery has demonstrated elasticity and flexibility. It scaled up when needed and scaled down when required," Lovelock added.
"CIOs will increasingly use cloud alternatives to secure the quickest time to demonstrate value of their IT investments."
Gartner analysts estimate enterprise cloud spending will represent 12.5 per cent of total enterprise IT spending in 2022.
Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and desktop as a service (DaaS) are expected to be the two segments where EMEA organisations will up their spending the most in 2022, achieving 32.3 per cent and 31.1 per cent growth, respectively.
After double-digit growth in devices spending in 2021, expenditure is anticipated to slow in 2022, with the segment growing 0.7 per cent year on year.
Employee's device stack of PCs, tablets, laptops, and mobile phones continue to be optimal for hybrid work, enabling multi-location and flexible employee business productivity.