Worldwide IT spending is projected to total $3.5 trillion in 2017, a 2.4 per cent increase from 2016, according to Gartner, Inc. This growth rate is up from the previous quarter's forecast of 1.4 percent, due to the US dollar decline against many foreign currencies

"Digital business is having a profound effect on the way business is done and how it is supported," said John-David Lovelock, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. "The impact of digital business is giving rise to new categories; for example, the convergence of "software plus services plus intellectual property."

The Gartner Worldwide IT Spending Forecast is the leading indicator of major technology trends across the hardware, software, IT services and telecom markets.

"These next-generation offerings are fuelled by business and technology platforms that will be the driver for new categories of spending. Industry-specific disruptive technologies include the Internet of Things (IoT) in manufacturing, blockchain in financial services (and other industries), and smart machines in retail. The focus is on how technology is disrupting and enabling business," added Lovelock

The worldwide enterprise software market is forecast to grow 7.6 per cent in 2017, up from 5.3 percent growth in 2016. As software applications allow more organisations to derive revenue from digital business channels, there will be a stronger need to automate and release new applications and functionality.

"With the increased adoption of SaaS-based enterprise applications, there also comes an increase in acceptance of IT operations management (ITOM) tools that are also delivered from the cloud," said Lovelock. "These cloud-based tools allow infrastructure and operations (I&O) organisations to more rapidly add functionality and adopt newer technologies to help them manage faster application release cycles. If the I&O team does not monitor and track the rapidly changing environment, it risks infrastructure and application service degradation, which ultimately impacts the end-user experience and can have financial as well as brand repercussions."

Worldwide spending on devices (PCs, tablets, ultramobiles and mobile phones) is projected to grow 3.8 per cent in 2017, to reach $654 billion. This is up from the previous quarter's forecast of 1.7 percent. Mobile phone growth will be driven by increased average selling prices (ASPs) for premium phones in mature markets due to the 10th anniversary of the iPhone and the increased mix of basic phones over utility phones. However, the tablet market continues to decline, as replacement cycles remain extended.

Source: Khaleej Times