After global technology spend (excluding consumer technology) dipped last year, a forecast from Gartner expects a rebound, with spending predicted to increase both this year and next. Here’s a look at which segments are expected to see the most growth.
Gartner projects global IT spending in 2021 to grow by 6.2% from last year to reach $3.9 trillion. This is a slightly more optimistic forecast than the firm had estimated in late 2020.
The software market is set to be a key growth driver, with Gartner forecasting spending on enterprise software to increase by 8.8% this year to $506 billion, up from a 2.4% year-over-year fall last year. The growth rate is predicted to be even stronger in 2022, when spending on enterprise software is expected to climb by 10.2% to reach $557 billion.
Spending on devices is also projected to rise by an above-average rate. The growth of 8%, making for a total of $705 billion this year, comes close to offsetting the 8.2% drop in spending in 2020. However, spending growth in 2022 is expected to slow considerably (1.3%), at which time the devices market is forecast to stand at $715 billion.
IT services spending, which will account for $1.1 trillion of total global IT spending this year, will see growth of 6%, according to Gartner’s forecast. Next year, similar growth (6.3%) is also expected.
Accounting for more than one-third (36%) of total IT spend ($1.4 trillion), communications services will see the smallest rate of growth this year of all sectors, at 4.5%. Growth next year will be even slower (3.3%).
As the only sector that managed to hold steady during the turbulent year that was 2020, with spending neither growing nor declining, data center systems will see a growth rate on par with the overall average of 6.2% in 2021, per the forecast, to total $228 billion. Growth will dip next year to 3.4%, when spending on the sector is expected to hit $236 billion globally.
More data can be found here.
About the Data: Gartner notes that its “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.”