Press release

Gartner Says Global IT Spending to Grow 1.1 Percent in 2019

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Worldwide IT spending is projected to total $3.79 trillion in 2019, an
increase of 1.1 percent from 2018, according to the latest forecast by
Gartner, Inc.

“Currency headwinds fueled by the strengthening U.S. dollar have caused
us to revise our 2019 IT spending forecast down from the previous
quarter,” said John-David
Lovelock, research vice president at Gartner. “Through the remainder
of 2019, the U.S. dollar is expected to trend stronger, while enduring
tremendous volatility due to uncertain economic and political
environments and trade wars.

“In 2019, technology
product managers will have to get more strategic with their
portfolio mix by balancing products and services that will post growth
in 2019 with those larger markets that will trend flat to down,” said
Mr. Lovelock. “Successful product managers in 2020 will have had a
long-term view to the changes made in 2019.”

The data center systems segment will experience the largest decline in
2019 with a decrease of 2.8 percent (see Table 1). This is mainly due to
expected lower average selling prices (ASPs) in the server market driven
by adjustments in the pattern of expected component costs.

The shift of enterprise IT spending from traditional (noncloud)
offerings to new, cloud-based
alternatives is continuing to drive growth in the enterprise
software market. In 2019, the market is forecast to reach $427 billion,
up 7.1 percent from $399 billion in 2018. The largest cloud
shift has so far occurred in application software. However, Gartner
expects increased growth for the infrastructure software segment in the
near-term, particularly in integration platform as a service (iPaaS) and
application platform as a service (aPaaS).

Table 1. Worldwide IT Spending Forecast (Billions of U.S.
Dollars)

     

2018
Spending

   

2018
Growth (%)

   

2019
Spending

   

2019
Growth (%)

   

2020
Spending

   

2020
Growth (%)

Data Center Systems     210     15.5     204     -2.8     207     1.7
Enterprise Software     399     9.3     427     7.1     462     8.2
Devices     667     0.3     655     -1.9     677     3.5
IT Services     982     5.5     1,016     3.5     1,065     4.8
Communications Services     1,489     2.1     1,487     -0.1     1,513     1.7
Overall IT     3,747     4.0     3,790     1.1     3,925     3.6

Source: Gartner (April 2019)

“The choices CIOs make about technology investments are essential to the
success of digital business. Disruptive emerging technologies, such as artificial
intelligence (AI), will reshape business models as well as the
economics of public- and private-sector enterprises. AI is having a
major effect on IT spending, although its role is often misunderstood,”
said Mr. Lovelock. “AI is not a product, it is really a set of
techniques or a computer engineering discipline. As such, AI is being
embedded in many existing products and services, as well as being
central to new development efforts in every industry. Gartner’s AI
business value forecast predicts that organizations will receive
$1.9 trillion worth of benefit from the use of AI this year alone.”

More detailed analysis on the outlook for the IT industry is available
in the complimentary webinar “IT
Spending Forecast, 1Q19 Update: AI — Use it, Build it or Sell it.”

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, 1Q19 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.