The total global spend on information technology (IT) is projected to rise by 6.2% to $3.7-trillion this year, indicating a new growth cycle, a forecast released by market research multinational Gartner, on Monday, reveals.

“This is the highest annual growth rate that Gartner has forecast since 2007 and would be a sign of a new cycle of IT growth,” said Gartner research VP John-David Lovelock.

“The declining US dollar has caused currency tailwinds, which are the main reason for this strong growth. However, spending on IT around the world is growing at expected levels and is in line with expected global economic growth,” he explained.

Through this year and next, the US dollar is expected to trend stronger while enduring tremendous volatility owing to the uncertain political environment, the North American Free Trade Agreement renegotiation and the potential for trade wars, Gartner noted.

Enterprise software spending is forecast to experience the highest growth, at 11.1%, this year. Barring unexpected disruption, the software industry is expected to continue capitalising on the evolution of digital business.

“Application software spending is expected to continue to rise through 2019, and infrastructure software will also continue to grow, bolstered by modernisation initiatives,” said Lovelock.

“Despite a strong end to 2017, worldwide spending on data centre systems is forecast to grow [by only] 3.7% in 2018, down from 6.3% in 2017. The longer-term outlook continues to have challenges, particularly for the storage segment. The strength at the end of 2017 was primarily driven by the component shortage for memory components, and prices have increased at a greater rate than previously expected.”

Gartner had previously expected component shortages to ease this year; however, the shortages are now expected to continue until the end of this year.
 
Global spending on devices – personal computers, tablets and mobile phones – is forecast to grow by 6.6% year-on-year to $706-billion, this year.

“The device market continues to see dual dynamics. Some users are holding back from buying, and those who are buying are doing so, on average, at higher price points,” said Lovelock.

“As a result, end-user spending will increase faster than units through 2022. However, total end-user spending and unit shipments are expected to be lower compared with previous forecasts, as demand for ultramobile premium devices, ultramobile utility devices and basic
phones is expected to be slow.”