Worldwide IT Spending on Track to Reach $3.8 Trillion in 2014, Gartner predicts

After experiencing flat sales in 2013, worldwide IT spending is projected to total $3.8 trillion in 2014, a 3.1 percent increase from 2013 spending of $3.7 trillion, according to the latest Worldwide IT Spending Forecast from Gartner, Inc. In 2013, the market experienced just 0.4 percent year over year growth, the research firm reports.

Through the lens of the Microsoft Dynamics ecosystem, many of the predictions reflect meaningful trends. For example, Gartner says enterprise software spending growth will be the strongest through the forecast period, with an annual growth rate for 2014 projected at 6.8 percent. Spending on devices (including PCs, ultramobiles, mobile phones, and tablets) will grow 4.3 percent in 2014. Also on track to post growth this year are data center systems (2.6% annual growth projected); IT services (4.5%); and telecom services (1.2%).

Not all of Gartner's current forecasts match with the research firm's late-2013 projections. For example, the company says its data center systems spending growth outlook for 2014 has been cut from 2.9 percent in its previous forecast to 2.6 percent. This is mainly due to a reduction in the forecast for external controller-based storage and enterprise communications applications, according to Gartner, which notes that these segments represent 32 percent of total data center system end-user spending.

Gartner also slightly revised downward the IT services compound annual growth rate between 2012 and 2017. The largest contributor to this revision comes from reductions in IT outsourcing - specifically, in colocation, hosting, and data center outsourcing growth rates.

"We are seeing CIOs increasingly reconsidering data center build-out and instead planning faster-than-expected moves to cloud computing," said Richard Gordon, managing vice president. "Despite these small reductions, we continue to anticipate consistent four to five percent annual growth through 2017."