Gartner Says Global IT Spending to Grow 3.2 Percent in 2019

Worldwide IT spending is projected to total $3.8 trillion in 2019, an increase of 3.2 percent from expected spending of $3.7 trillion in 2018, according to the latest forecast by Gartner, Inc.

“While currency volatility and the potential for trade wars are still playing a part in the outlook for IT spending, it is the shift from ownership to service that is sending ripples through every segment of the forecast,” said John-David Lovelock, research vice president at Gartner. “What this signals, for example, is more enterprise use of cloud services — instead of buying their own servers, they are turning to the cloud. As enterprises continue their digital transformation efforts, shifting to ‘pay for use’ will continue. This sets enterprises up to deal with the sustained and rapid change that underscores digital business.”

Enterprise software spending is forecast to experience the highest growth with an 8.3 percent increase in 2019 (see Table 1). Software as a service (SaaS) is driving growth in almost all software segments, particularly customer relationship management (CRM), due to increased focus on providing better customer experiences. Cloud software will grow at more than 22 percent this year compared with 6 percent growth for all other forms of software. While core applications such as ERP, CRM and supply chain continue to get the lion share of dollars, security and privacy are of particular interest right now. Eighty-eight percent of recently surveyed global CIOs have deployed or plan to deploy cybersecurity software and other technology in the next 12 months.

Table 1. Worldwide IT Spending Forecast (Billions of U.S. Dollars)
		2017		2017		2018		2018		2019		2019
		Spending		Growth (%)		Spending		Growth (%)		Spending		Growth (%)
Data Center Systems		181		6.4		192		6.0		195		1.6
Enterprise Software		369		10.4		405		9.9		439		8.3
Devices		665		5.7		689		3.6		706		2.4
IT Services		931		4.1		987		5.9		1,034		4.7
Communications Services		1,392		1.0		1,425		2.4		1,442		1.2
Overall IT		3,539		3.9		3,699		4.5		3,816		3.2
Source: Gartner (October 2018)