According to Gartner, the technological research and consulting firm, worldwide IT spending is expected to total $5 trillion in 2024, an increase of 6.8% from 2023. This is down from the previous quarter’s forecast of 8% growth.
“While GenAI will change everything, it won’t impact IT spending significantly, similar to IoT, blockchain, and other big trends we have experienced,” said John-David Lovelock, VP analyst at Gartner.
“2024 will be the year when organisations actually invest in planning for how to use GenAI, however IT spending will be driven by more traditional forces, such as profitability, labour, and dragged down by a continued wave of change fatigue.”
IT Services Becomes Largest Segment of IT Spending in 2024
Spending on IT services is expected to grow 8.7% in 2024, reaching $1.5 trillion (£1.1t~). Gartner said this is largely due to enterprises investing in organisational efficiency and optimisation projects.
Following—and just behind IT services spending—is communications services, which is predicted to have $1.4 trillion (£1.1t~) spent on it in 2024. After communications services comes spending on devices $1t (£787b~), software $732b (£576b~), and data centre systems $261b (£205b~).
“Adoption rates among consumers for devices and communications services plateaued over a decade ago. Consumer spending levels are primarily driven by price changes and replacement cycles, leaving room for only incremental growths, so being surpassed by software and services was inevitable,” said Lovelock. “Enterprises continue to find more uses for technology – IT has moved out of the back office, through the front office and is now revenue producing, until there is a plateau for how and where technology can be used in an enterprise, there cannot be a plateau in enterprise IT spending.”
Gartner says that change fatigue could manifest as change resistance in 2024, with CIOs hesitating to sign new contracts, commit to long-term initiatives or take on new technology partners.
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