Worldwide IT Spending on Pace to Reach $3.7 Trillion in 2013

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Worldwide IT spending is projected to total $3.7 trillion in 2013, a 2 per cent increase from 2012 spending of $3.6 trillion, according to the latest forecast by Gartner, Inc. Last quarter, Gartner's forecast for 2013 IT spending growth in US dollars was 4.1 per cent. The 2.1 percentage point reduction mainly reflects the impact of recent fluctuations in US dollar exchange rates; growth in constant currency is forecast at 3.5 per cent for 2013, down only slightly from last quarter. 

The Gartner Worldwide IT Spending Forecast is the leading indicator of major technology trends across the hardware, software, IT services and telecom markets. For more than a decade, global IT and business executives have been using these highly anticipated quarterly reports to recognize market opportunities and challenges, and base their critical business decisions on proven methodologies rather than guesswork. 

"Exchange rate movements, and a reduction in our 2013 forecast for devices, account for the bulk of the downward revision of the 2013 growth," said Richard Gordon, managing vice president at Gartner. "Regionally, 2013 constant-currency spending growth in most regions has been lowered. However, Western Europe's constant-currency growth has been inched up slightly as strategic IT initiatives in the region will continue despite a poor economic outlook." 

The forecast for spending on devices in 2013 has been revised down from 7.9 per cent growth in Gartner's previous forecast to 2.8 per cent (see Table 1). The decline in PC sales, recorded in the first quarter of 2013, continued into the second quarter with little recovery expected during the second half of 2013. While new devices are set to hit the market in the second half of 2013, they will fail to compensate for the underlying weakness of the traditional PC market. The outlook for tablet revenue for 2013 is for growth of 38.9 per cent, while mobile phone revenue is projected to increase 9.3 per cent this year.

Table 1. Worldwide IT Spending Forecast (Billions of US Dollars)

	2012 Spending	2012 Growth (%)	2013 Spending	2013 Growth (%)	2014 Spending	2014 Growth (%)
Devices	676	10.9	695	2.8	740	6.5
Data Centre Systems	140	1.8	143	2.1	149	4.1
Enterprise Software	285	4.7	304	6.4	324	6.6
IT Services	906	2.0	926	2.2	968	4.6
Telecom Services	1,641	-0.7	1,655	0.9	1,694	2.3
Overall IT	3,648	2.5	3,723	2.0	3,875	4.1

Source: Gartner (July 2013)

Enterprise software spending is on pace to grow 6.4 per cent in 2013. Growth expectations for customer relationship management have been raised to reflect expanded coverage into e-commerce, social and mobile. Expectations for digital content creation and operating systems have been reduced as software as a service and changing device demands impact traditional models and markets. 

Telecom services spending is forecast to grow 0.9 per cent in 2013. Fixed broadband is showing slightly higher than anticipated growth. The impact of voice substitution is mixed as it is moving faster in the consumer sector, but slightly slower in the enterprise market. 

More-detailed analysis on the outlook for the IT industry will be presented in the webinar "IT Spending Forecast, 2Q13 Update: The Impact of Mobility on Spending." The complimentary webinar will be hosted by Gartner on 9 July at 4:00pm UK time. During the webinar, Gartner analysts will discuss their latest thinking on IT spending growth through 2017. To register for the webinar, please visit our website.