Global IT spending will increase steadily in 2014

With the gradual recovery of the global economy, global IT spending will grow steadily to 3.8 trillion US dollars in 2014, an increase of 3.2% compared with 2013.

Richard Gordon, Gartner’s vice president, said: “Global companies are gradually getting rid of haze and resuming IT spending to support their business growth. Consumers will buy many new equipment in 2014, but compared to previous years, this There will be more equipment with lower prices and more basic functions.”

Gartner's global IT spending forecast is a leading indicator of major global technology trends, covering the hardware, software, IT services, and communications markets. For more than 10 years, global IT and business executives have used these high-profile quarterly reports to gain insights into market opportunities and challenges, and based on empirical research methods, formulating important business decisions rather than speculation alone.

The terminal equipment market (including PCs, Ultramobile, mobile phones and tablets) is expected to resume growth in 2014, with global spending reaching US$689 billion, a 4.4% increase from 2013 (see Table 1). However, in terms of overall expenditure, the market will still see adjustments in the product mix structure. Demand for expensive high-end handsets is gradually slowing down, as consumers in mature markets prefer to buy mid-range handsets, while consumers in emerging markets prefer low-end Android basic handsets.

Traditional PC users are gradually shrinking into smaller but more stable groups. On the whole, consumers choose the high-end Ultramobile to replace the laptop while purchasing the tablet as an add-on device. As the market becomes more buyer-oriented, some important product innovations have long been popular, and product prices have become the main differences.

Data center system spending in 2014 is expected to reach US$ 143 billion, an increase of 2.3% compared to 2013. In terms of enterprise network equipment trends, cloud and mobility are the biggest drivers of demand. The adoption of virtualization and cloud brings huge market momentum to data center Ethernet switches, and the proliferation of mobile terminal devices continues to boost the market demand for wireless LAN equipment.

In the enterprise software market, expenditures will grow steadily to US$320 billion, an increase of 6.9% compared to 2013. The enterprise software market will become the fastest growing field in 2014. Gordon pointed out: "The combination of Nexus of Forces (social, mobile, cloud, and information) will continue to drive the growth of major software markets such as CRM, database management systems (DBMSs), data integration tools, and data quality tools. In fact, companies adopt data management techniques to support 'power binding', which allows DBMSs to outperform operating systems, making DBMS the largest enterprise-class software market in 2014."

IT service spending in 2014 is expected to reach US$964 billion, which is an increase of 4.6% compared to 2013. IT service procurement is gradually shifting from consulting (project planning) to implementation (project execution). Gartner analysts expect that the IT service market will grow steadily as the economic outlook and investment sentiment improve.

Telecom spending in 2014 is expected to increase by 1.3% to reach $1.655 trillion. Fixed-line voice services continue to decline due to substitution effects and are slightly faster than originally expected, affecting the proportion of pure wireless home users in important markets such as Japan, and the shift of corporate lines to SIP Trunking technology (using VoIP to connect traditional PBX Phone System to Network).

In addition, IT spending in Asia Pacific in 2014 is expected to reach US$759 billion, an increase of 4.4% compared to 2013. Among them, China's IT spending is expected to exceed RMB 2.1 trillion, an increase of 7% from 2013.