Worldwide IT spending is projected to grow at 3 percent to $4.5 trillion in 2022 vs 10.2 percent growth in 2021, according to the latest forecast by Gartner.
The growth in spending will be 11.1 percent in data center systems, 9.6 percent in software, –5 percent in devices, 6.2 percent in IT services and 0.4 percent in communication services in 2022.
In 2021, the growth in spending was 6.4 percent in data center systems, 14.7 percent in software, 16 percent in devices, 12.8 percent in IT services and 3.8 percent in communication services.
IT spending in 2022 will be at a much slower pace than 2021 due to spending cutbacks on PCs, tablets and printers by consumers, causing spending on devices to shrink 5 percent, Gartner report indicated on Friday.
“The volatility being seen in both inflation and currency exchange rates is not expected to deter CIOs’ investment plans for 2022,” said John-David Lovelock, distinguished research vice president at Gartner. “Organizations that do not invest in the short term will likely fall behind in the medium term and risk not being around in the long term.”
Compensation is the No. 1 driver for IT talent attraction and retention, the Gartner Global Labor Market Survey of nearly 18,000 employees in the first quarter of 2022 showed.
Technology service providers are increasing prices on IT to allow for competitive salaries. This is driving an increase in spending in software and services through 2022 and 2023. Software spending is expected to grow 9.6 percent to $806.8 billion in 2022 and global spending on IT services is forecast to reach $1.3 trillion.
“CIOs are using more IT services to assist in the lack of skilled IT staff. Tasks that require lower skill sets tend to be outsourced to managed service firms to alleviate staff time, while critical strategy work, which requires high-end skills unobtainable by many enterprises, will increasingly be fulfilled by external consultants,” John-David Lovelock said.
