Business IT Trends Annual Report. Increase in IT spending for US businesses

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1 2017 Business IT Trends Annual Report Increase in IT spending for US businesses

2 2017 Business IT Trends Annual Report IT budgets and tech spending We asked US business buyers of IT about their technology purchasing plans for 2017 and their responses show that they intend to increase IT spending. The 2017 Business IT Trends Annual Report contains responses the vast majority from people who either influence or make the final purchasing decision that reveal much about where US companies large and small will invest in the coming year. These investments cover the gamut of IT spending from replacing an ageing fleet of PCs to taking those first tentative steps into the cloud. As you contemplate your own future IT purchases, from the mundane to the bleeding edge, this report will give you a glimpse into where your contemporaries are investing. Business IT Trends Annual Report 2

3 Headlines Annual IT budgets are on the up 37 percent of respondents say they ll spend more in On average, all industries surveyed plan to spend more on IT in Almost a third of respondents plan to invest in IT across the board 28 percent of respondents said they ll invest in hardware, software and cloud technologies. The highest growth rate was in the healthcare industry, with technology, finance and manufacturing coming equal second. Desktops, laptops, networking and Wi-Fi, and servers are the most popular hardware spends. The must-have purchases in software are security, operating systems and backup. The most sought-after cloud investments are in backup and recovery, hosting and application hosting. These trends are supported by findings from Gartner and International Data Corporation (IDC) earlier this year. Both research and advisory firms said worldwide IT spending would sustain growth of about three percent up until 2020 thanks to favorable macroeconomic forces and would be led by financial services, technology and manufacturing. Business confidence is on the rise after concerns over political instability in certain parts of the globe. These include, but are not limited to, a different style of US presidency and economic growth in China. Business IT Trends Annual Report 3

4 01 How does 2017 expenditure compare to 2016 budgets? 15% 2017 IT budgets 37% Over a third of respondents say they plan to spend the same amount as in % Spending increase Spending decrease 11% Flat spending N/A Up by 1 10% Up by 10% or more Down by 1 10% Down by 10% or more 4% 7% 14% 23% Over a third of respondents say they plan to spend the same amount as in 2016, and over a third plan to spend more. We can attribute this even split to some businesses trialing new technologies, such as the cloud, and waiting to measure the benefits before committing more budget. Other businesses further along this path view technology as an asset and are eager to keep embracing it by investing more. While most businesses plan to increase their spending by only 1 10 percent, 11 percent of all respondents plan to cut their IT investments. We also uncovered broader trends in the major findings from Computer Economics IT Spending and Staffing Benchmarks 2017/2018 study. This survey shows that IT executives intend to spend more of their budgets on networking, business applications, security, and end-user devices, while winding back investments in their data centers. Additionally, the Harvey Nash KPMG CIO Survey 2017 says that despite two-thirds of organisations adapting their IT strategy due to political and economic uncertainty, 89 per cent are maintaining or increasing investment in innovation. Business IT Trends Annual Report 4

5 02 How much are IT buyers spending? What might explain the majority of respondents making either modest investments up to the $10k mark or spending $200k plus? At the lower end of the scale, we can attribute this to businesses looking to simply cover the cost of staying up to date. For those going all out and spending over $200k, we suggest these businesses rely on technology as a core component of their service and view it as an asset rather than a necessary fixed cost. 32% 8% 13% 8% 8% 15% 11% Up to $10k $10k $25k $25k $50k $50k $100k $100k $200k $200k plus Don t know Those investing less than $50k are looking to spend mostly their dollars on laptops, networking and Wi-Fi, servers, tablets and mobile devices, operating systems, productivity, security backup and recovery, and hosting. Those investing more than $200k are spending on just about everything desktops, laptops, networking and Wi-Fi, printers, security, servers, storage, backup and recovery, CRM databases, operating systems, productivity, application hosting, hosting, infrastructure, productivity solutions and web hosting. Business IT Trends Annual Report 5

6 03 Where are IT buyers spending money? It s not surprising that most of the IT spending will go to hardware and software over cloud technologies. While this is expected, it s interesting to note that almost a third of all respondents plan to invest in all three areas. According to the Gartner Worldwide IT Spending Forecast which provides insights on major technology trends across software, hardware, telecom and IT services there is a predicted rise in spending in all areas up to This includes enterprise software, data center systems, communication services, devices and IT services. IDC s 2017 Worldwide Semiannual IT Spending Guide: Industry and Company Size says global small and medium business software spending will exceed that of hardware by Where are IT buyers spending money? 61% 61% Percentage of businesses spending on two types of technology. Percentage of businesses spending on one type of technology only 28 percent are spending on all three 42% 44% 31% 35% 28% 14% 10% & & & 4% Hardware Software Cloud Business IT Trends Annual Report 6

7 04 In which hardware categories are IT buyers investing? Replacing outdated laptops and desktops will be the priority for about a third of respondents, with almost another third looking at upgrading networking and Wi-Fi. This is to be expected when you consider how dependent businesses have become on accessing the internet from mobile devices. 39% 32% 30% 25% 23% 15% 15% 18% Laptops Desktops/PCs Servers Networking/Wi-Fi Tablets/mobile Security Storage Printers Business IT Trends Annual Report 7

8 05 In which software categories are IT buyers investing? Thanks to the recent ransomware attacks and increasing cybercrime across the globe, security is unsurprisingly the number one investment pick for software even surpassing the all-important operating system. Backup was also rated highly, reflecting the fear some businesses have about cybercrime and lost data. 30% 25% 32% 24% 27% 14% 13% Operating systems Productivity Security Database Backup CRM Virtualization Business IT Trends Annual Report 8

9 06 In which cloud categories are IT buyers investing? When it comes to the cloud, backup and recovery, hosting and application hosting are the most popular investments. This will likely continue to be the trend as businesses overcome their security fears of hosting critical business functions in the cloud. 30% 25% 20% 18% 11% 14% 6% 6% Backup and recovery hosting Application hosting Web hosting Productivity solutions Infrastructure Content filtering Hosted VoIP Business IT Trends Annual Report 9

10 07 Industry Our respondents cover a variety of industries, with health care companies appearing to be the keenest consumers of technology in On what technologies is each sector spending its money? Technology desktops, laptops, networking, Wi-Fi, security, backup and recovery, databases, and application history Finance laptops, security, servers, databases, operating systems, virtualization, and application history Health care desktops, networking, Wi-Fi, and backup and recovery Manufacturing desktops, laptops, networking, Wi-Fi, printing, productivity, backup and recovery, and hosting Retail printers, CRM, application hosting, and backup and recovery Business IT Trends Annual Report 10

11 08 Company size (number of employees) We surveyed the complete scope of businesses from the singleemployee operation to the large-scale company of over 1000 employees. Most of our respondents were small businesses with fewer than 20 employees (50 percent). 8% 21% 21% 13% 20% 10% 6% Number of employees On what technologies is each segment size spending its money? Desktops, laptops, networking, Wi-Fi, security, tablets/mobile, printers, servers, storage, backup and recovery, databases, operating systems, application hosting, hosting, web hosting Servers, backup and recovery, databases, operating systems, productivity, hosting Desktops, laptops, networking, Wi-Fi, servers, operating systems, productivity, security Laptops, application hosting, backup and recovery, databases, productivity solutions Desktops, laptops, printers, networking, Wi-Fi, security, servers, storage, backup, operating systems, productivity, virtualization Business IT Trends Annual Report 11

12 09 What is your role in the purchase of IT products for your business? Over 90 percent of our respondents said they either made the final call on what to buy or had influence in the buying process. 35% 48% 7% 10% I m the final decision_maker No influence I influence the decision-making process I m the technical buyer in the process Note: The National IT Purchasing Survey 2017 asked US organizations where they plan to focus their IT spending in The survey sought answers to these questions: In which of the following areas do you expect to spend your IT budget: Hardware Software Cloud What do you consider as your most significant IT project in 2017? Business IT Trends Annual Report 12

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