Predictions about the potential for an economic slowdown in 2019 apparently haven't impacted digital business growth aspirations. As more CEOs focus their executive team attention toward digital transformation investments, IT vendors are preparing for the new demand.
Worldwide IT spending is projected to total $3.76 trillion in 2019 -- that's an increase of 3.2 percent from 2018, according to the latest market study by Gartner.
"Despite uncertainty fueled by recession rumors, Brexit, and trade wars and tariffs, the likely scenario for IT spending in 2019 is growth," said John-David Lovelock, vice president at Gartner. "However, there are a lot of dynamic changes happening in regards to which segments will be driving growth in the future."
IT Infrastructure Market Development
Spending is moving from segments such as mobile phones, personal computers and on-premises data center infrastructure to cloud services and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. IoT devices, in particular, are starting to pick up the slack from devices. Where the devices segment is saturated, IoT is not.
"IT is no longer just a platform that enables organizations to run their business on. It is becoming the engine that moves the business," added Mr. Lovelock. "As digital business and digital business ecosystems move forward, IT will be the thing that binds the business together."
With the ongoing shift to hybrid cloud computing, a key driver of IT spending, enterprise software will continue to exhibit strong growth, with worldwide software spending projected to grow 8.5 percent in 2019.
It will grow another 8.2 percent in 2020 to total $466 billion. According to the Gartner assessment, organizations are expected to increase spending on enterprise application software in 2019, with more of the budget shifting to software as a service (SaaS).
Despite a slowdown in the smartphone market, the devices segment is expected to grow 1.6 percent in 2019. The largest and most highly saturated smartphone markets -- such as China, Unites States and Western Europe -- are driven by replacement cycles.
Outlook for Digital Talent Demand Growth
"In addition to buying behavior changes, we are also seeing skills of internal staff beginning to lag as organizations adopt new technologies, such as IoT devices, to drive digital business," said Mr. Lovelock.
Gartner believes that nearly half of the IT workforce is in urgent need of developing skills or competencies to support their digital business initiatives. Advanced IT skill requirements, such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, API and services platform design and data science, are changing rapidly.
