In anticipation of greater economic stability this year, global IT spending is expected to rise by 8.4 percent. This is according to a new report from analyst house Gartner, which claims worldwide IT spending will hit $4.1 trillion in 2021.
The source of funds for new digital business initiatives, Gartner believes, will generally come from business departments other than IT, and will be charged as a cost of revenue or cost of goods sold.
“IT no longer just supports corporate operations as it traditionally has, but is fully participating in business value delivery,” said John-David Lovelock, Distinguished Research VP at Gartner.
“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.”
While all IT segments are expected to grow throughout 2022, devices will most likely have the highest growth (14 percent), followed by enterprise software (10 percent).
Gartner believes organizations will shift their attention from business continuity to providing a more comfortable, innovative and productive environment for employees.
“Last year, IT spending took the form of a ‘knee jerk’ reaction to enable a remote workforce in a matter of weeks. As hybrid work takes hold, CIOs will focus on spending that enables innovation, not just task completion,” said Lovelock.
However, that doesn’t mean optimization and cost savings efforts will evaporate. Gartner also expects different industries to recover at different paces, with banking and securities and insurance spending outpacing the likes of retail and transportation.
