Gartner Says Global IT Spending to Reach $3.8 Trillion in 2019

Worldwide IT spending is projected to total $3.76 trillion in 2019, an
increase of 3.2 percent from 2018, according to the latest forecast by
Gartner, Inc.

“Despite uncertainty fueled by recession rumors, Brexit,
and trade wars and tariffs, the likely scenario for IT spending in 2019
is growth,” said John-David
Lovelock, research vice president at Gartner. “However, there are a
lot of dynamic changes happening in regards to which segments will be
driving growth in the future. Spending is moving from saturated segments
such as mobile phones, PCs and on-premises data center infrastructure to
cloud services and Internet
of Things (IoT) devices. IoT devices, in particular, are starting to
pick up the slack from devices. Where the devices segment is saturated,
IoT is not.

“IT is no longer just a platform that enables organizations to run their
business on. It is becoming the engine that moves the business,” added
Mr. Lovelock. “As digital business and digital
business ecosystems move forward, IT will be the thing that binds
the business together.”

With the shift
to cloud, a key driver of IT spending, enterprise software will
continue to exhibit strong growth, with worldwide software spending
projected to grow 8.5 percent in 2019. It will grow another 8.2 percent
in 2020 to total $466 billion (see Table 1). Organizations are expected
to increase spending on enterprise application software in 2019, with
more of the budget shifting to software
as a service (SaaS).

Despite a slowdown in the mobile phone market, the devices segment is
expected to grow 1.6 percent in 2019. The largest and most highly
saturated smartphone markets, such as China, Unites States and Western
Europe, are driven by replacement cycles. With Samsung facing challenges
bringing well-differentiated premium smartphones to market and Apple’s
high price-to-value benefits for its flagship smartphones, consumers
kept their current phones and drove the mobile phone market down 1.2
percent in 2018.

“In addition to buying behavior changes, we are also seeing skills of
internal staff beginning to lag as organizations adopt new technologies,
such as IoT devices, to drive digital business,” said Mr. Lovelock.
“Nearly half of the IT
workforce is in urgent need of developing skills or competencies to
support their digital business initiatives. Skill requirements to keep
up, such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, API and
services platform design and data science, are changing faster than
we’ve ever seen before.”

More detailed analysis on the outlook for the IT industry is available
in the complimentary webinar “IT
Spending Forecast, 4Q18 Update: What Will Make Headlines in 2019?”

Gartner’s 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.

The Gartner quarterly IT spending forecast delivers a unique perspective
on IT spending across the hardware, software, IT services and
telecommunications segments. These reports help Gartner clients
understand market opportunities and challenges. The most recent IT
spending forecast research is available to Gartner clients in “Gartner
Market Databook, Q418 Update.” This quarterly IT Spending Forecast
page includes links to the latest IT spending reports, webinars, blog
posts and press releases.

Mr. Lovelock will provide further analysis on the key drivers of the IT
market at the Gartner Tech Growth & Innovation Conference taking place June
3-5 in San Diego, CA and June
12-13 in London. The Conference is the premier event for technology
providers to learn about the latest trends and tools, innovation
predictions, positioning and thought leadership.

About Gartner

Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world’s leading research and advisory
company and a member of the S&P 500. We equip business leaders with
indispensable insights, advice and tools to achieve their
mission-critical priorities and build the successful organizations of
tomorrow.

Our unmatched combination of expert-led, practitioner-sourced and
data-driven research steers clients toward the right decisions on the
issues that matter most. We are a trusted advisor and objective resource
for more than 15,000 organizations in more than 100 countries — across
all major functions, in every industry and organization size.

To learn more about how we help decision makers fuel the future of
business, visit www.gartner.com.

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