Driven by growth in software and IT services revenue, global IT spending is forecast to reach $3.5 trillion in 2017, up 2.9 per cent from 2016 estimated spending of $3.4 trillion, according to the latest forecast by Gartner.
The bright spot for IT industry has been the software and IT services segments. Software spending is projected to grow 6 per cent in 2016, and it will grow another 7.2 per cent in 2017 to total $357 billion.
IT services spending is on pace to grow 3.9 per cent in 2016 to reach $900 billion, and increase 4.8 per cent in 2017 to reach $943 billion.
"The immediate impact of Brexit has caused modest growth in IT spending to turn negative for 2016," said John-David Lovelock, research vice president, Gartner.
"Without the UK, global IT spending growth would have been modestly positive at 0.2 per cent in 2016, but with the UK included, IT spending is expected to decrease 0.3 per cent. The immediate impact of the British pound will also cause the IT spending patterns to shift as prices for IT will increase," added Lovelock.
"We see software and IT services spending in Germany and France increasing, while UK services stay relatively flat," said Lovelock.
"There are other countries, such as the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Ireland that are also increasing their IT spend to contend as a viable alternative to banks in the UK. We are seeing examples of many banks in talks with these countries to examine the possibility of moving their operations outside of the UK," added Lovelock.
Gartner's IT spending forecast methodology relies heavily on rigorous analysis of sales by thousands of vendors across the entire range of IT products and services. Gartner uses primary research techniques, complemented by secondary research sources, to build a comprehensive database of market size data on which to base its forecast.
