Research agency Gartner has revealed the latest forecast for the global IT spending for the year 2018.
IT spending will grow 4.5 percent to $3.7 trillion in 2018 – lifted by investment in projects in digital business, blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), and progression from big data to algorithms to machine learning to artificial intelligence (AI).
“Global IT spending growth began to turn around in 2017, with continued growth expected over the next few years. However, uncertainty looms as organizations consider the potential impacts of Brexit, currency fluctuations, and a possible global recession,” said John-David Lovelock, research vice president at Gartner.
Worldwide IT Spending Forecast (Billions of U.S. Dollars)
| 2017
Spending |
2017
Growth (%) |
2018
Spending |
2018
Growth (%) |
2019 Spending | 2019 Growth (%) | |
| Data Center Systems | 178 | 4.4 | 179 | 0.6 | 179 | -0.2 |
| Enterprise Software | 355 | 8.9 | 389 | 9.5 | 421 | 8.4 |
| Devices | 667 | 5.7 | 704 | 5.6 | 710 | 0.9 |
| IT Services | 933 | 4.3 | 985 | 5.5 | 1,030 | 4.6 |
| Communications Services | 1,393 | 1.3 | 1,427 | 2.4 | 1,443 | 1.1 |
| Overall IT | 3,527 | 3.8 | 3,683 | 4.5 | 3,784 | 2.7 |
Enterprise software spending will grow at 9.5 percent in 2018, 8.4 percent in 2019 to total $421 billion.
Organizations are expected to increase spending on enterprise application software in 2018, with more of the budget shifting to software as a service (SaaS). The availability of SaaS-based solutions is encouraging new adoption and spending across many subcategories, such as financial management systems (FMS), human capital management (HCM) and analytic applications.
The devices segment will grow 5.6 percent in 2018 against 5.7 percent in 2017.
End-user spending on mobile phones is expected to increase marginally as average selling prices continue to creep upward even as unit sales are forecast to be lower. PC growth is expected to be flat in 2018 even as continued Windows 10 migration is expected to drive positive growth in the business market in China, Latin America and Eastern Europe.
Apple devices with iOS shipments are expected to grow 9.1 percent in 2018 after a minimal growth in the iPhone 8 and iPhone X in 2017.
Gartner forecasts $2.9 trillion in new business value opportunities attributable to AI by 2021, as well as the ability to recover 6.2 billion hours of worker productivity.
AI will drive efficiency gains, create insights that personalize the customer experience, entice engagement and commerce, and aid in expanding revenue-generating opportunities as part of new business models driven by the insights from data.
