Shock '$216bn IT Spend Slump' Claim From Gartner

Gartner has announced that global IT spending during 2015 slumped by $216 billion compared to estimated figures for the same period in 2014.

Some blame can be placed on the resurgent US economy and strong dollar that has surged against other global currencies, making foreign currency spent on IT equate to lower the US dollar value. This is due to Gartner using the US dollar as the base currency for the survey, so weaker foreign currencies when converted back to US dollars will show lower comparative spending.

This of course is a perennial problem leaving such surveys at the mercy of the strength of the US dollar relative to other global economies. The UK pound sterling for instance has not suffered against the US dollar. However, Gartner said it has factored in economic uncertainty in Russia and Brazil and falling oil prices.

Gartner was caught out by currency volatility in 2014, though it is confident that 2015 estimates are accurate, claiming if viewed against constant currency values the figures returned where as forecast.

“Currency volatility is expected to be less of a factor in 2016,” said Gartner research veep Richard Gordon, though he did not expand on that theory, despite ongoing falling oil prices, and further concerns over the Russian, Chinese and middle east economies.

Despite these worrying global current affairs, Gartner forecast that most segments of IT will expand. Furthermore, Gartner expects IT spending to reach $3.536 trillion by the end of this calendar year, which will be a modest 0.6 per cent up on 2015.

Author: Alasdair Gilchrist
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Published under license from ITProPortal.com