Worldwide IT spending is projected to total $4.1 trillion in 2021, an increase of 8.4 percent from 2020, according to the latest forecast by Gartner, Inc.
Business departments outside IT will generate the source of funds through new digital business initiatives and charged as a cost of revenue or cost of goods sold (COGS).
Commenting on the findings of the report, John-David Lovelock, Vice President at Gartner said, "IT no longer just supports corporate operations as it traditionally has, but is fully participating in business value delivery. Not only does this shift IT from a back-office role to the front of business, but it also changes the source of funding from an overhead expense that is maintained, monitored and sometimes cut, to the thing that drives revenue."
The report throws a positive growth forecast for all IT spending segments through 2022. However, it predicts that the highest growth will come from devices (14 percent) and enterprise software (10.8 percent) as organisations transition into a digitalized work environment.
The increased focus on the employee experience and well-being are propelling technology investments forward in areas such as social software and collaboration platforms and human capital management (HCM) software.
Post pandemic recovery across countries, vertical industries and IT segments still varies significantly, prompting a K-shape economic recovery. From an industry perspective, banking and securities and insurance spending will closely resemble pre-pandemic levels as early as 2021, while retail and transportation won’t see the same recovery until closer to 2023, as per the report.
Regionally, Latin America is expected to recover in 2024, while Greater China has already surpassed 2019 IT spending levels. North America and Western Europe are both expected to recover in late 2021.
