Buying of IT equipment, software and services to drop 6% in ‘09
Computing hardware will post the steepest decline as revenue falls more than 16%.
Jim Carbone -- Purchasing, 7/7/2009 11:25:38 AM
The purchasing of IT hardware, software and services will decline 6% in 2009 and will grow only 2.3% in 2010, according to researcher Gartner Inc.
Worldwide IT buying will total $3.2 trillion in 2009, down from $3.4 trillion in 2008. In 2010 IT revenue will rise to $3.22 trillion. Gartner had earlier forecast a 3.8% decline in IT buying for 2009. The researcher says it downgraded its forecast because of the continuing economic downturn and the effects of exchange rate movements.
All four major segments of IT—hardware, software, IT services and telecommunications—will post declining revenue. The computing hardware segment will be hit the hardest with spending falling 16.3%. The software segment will show the slightest decrease in 2009, as spending drops 1.6%.
Telecom buying will be down 4.6% and IT services will drop 5.6%, says Gartner.
"While the global economic downturn shows signs of easing, this year IT budgets are still being cut,” says Richard Gordon, research vice president and head of global forecasting at Gartner.
He says the decline in spending hardware and software segments has almost stabilized. "However, the full impact of the global recession on the IT services and telecommunications sectors is still emerging, and forecast growth in these areas has been further reduced significantly,” says Gordon.
He adds that the rise in the value of the U.S. dollar against most currencies in recent months will have a “downward impact on 2009 IT spending growth, which is reported based on dollars.”
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