Australian IT spend set to hit $76.9 billion after flat 2013

Australians are set to spend $76.9 billion on information technology products in 2014, an increase of 2.54% on 2013, according to information technology research company Gartner.

Gartner principal analyst Derry Finkeldey told SmartCompany technology spending in Australia remained “quite consistent” in 2013 despite cautious expenditure due to federal election uncertainty. In 2014 she thinks it will be “more robust”.

This is part of a global rise in IT spending, which is set to hit $US3.77 trillion in 2014, up 3.1% from $US3.66 trillion in 2013.

The forecast follows a flat year globally in IT spending, with growth in 2013 at 0.4%.

Across the Asia-Pacific, the figure will hit $US758 billion, up 4.2% on 2013; however, this is slightly lower than the 2013 growth of 4.7%.

In New Zealand, consumers and businesses are forecast to spend $NZ11.1 billion on IT, up 2.2% on 2013 figures.

Finkeldey says businesses held back on investing in data centre systems in 2013, but this should pick up, with spend forecast to rise globally by 2.6% to $US143 billion.

Spending on enterprise software is forecast to be the strongest sector throughout the year, with a growth rate of 6.8% to $US320 billion internationally.

“CRM (customer relationship management) will be the leading story,” Finkeldey says. “These are technologies to target customer interaction, with businesses using it to build customer loyalty.”

Globally, spending on devices such as PCs, mobile phones and tablets contracted by 1.2% in 2013, however this is expected to rise by 4.3% in 2014 to $US697 billion.

Finkeldey says as brands increasingly compete with market leader Apple on price and functionality, the volume of purchases is likely to increase, but a drop in prices may mean the total spend does not reflect this.

One sector that is set to see a minimal rise globally is telecom services, gaining 1.2% to $US1.65 trillion. However, this sector still has the highest overall spend.