IT spending projected to rise in 2010

Jake Widman
Tuesday, 22 December 2009 06:19

IT Industry - Market

A new survey from IT research firm Computer Economics finds that a slim majority of IT organizations expect their budges to increase in 2010, leading the firm to predict that the IT recession is at least temporarily over.

The predictions are found in Computer Economics' Outlook for IT Staffing and Spending in 2010, based on a survey of U.S. and Canadian IT executives.

First, the survey asked about the most recent three months of 2009. Most of the executives (52%) reported no change in their operational budges, while 29% were still making cuts and only 19% managed an increase.

That's still better than the result from late 2008, when 35% were cutting spending and only 11% were increasing it.

But the outlook is better for 2010. That same majority, 52%, report that they expect to see an increase in their budges, while only 16% anticipate further cuts; 32% expect no change.

The expected budget increases aren't very large, however -- the median expectation is a 2% rise in operational budgets.

Nevertheless, the report concludes that "It now appears clear that IT spending and layoffs hit bottom sometime in 2009 and that we are seeing the beginning of a small renewal in spending on new equipment and personnel."

Previous reports from other sources have also pointed toward a recovery in 2010, though there's some question of whether that will affect staffing or just equipment.

The full Computer Economics report is available here for US$195.