NEW YORK: Worldwide spending on information technology could become one of the casualties of global economic uncertainty this year, according to research firm Gartner Inc.
Worldwide IT spending is expected to fall slightly this year to US$3.49 trillion, as the strong US dollar continues to take its toll, the firm said yesterday.
The global uncertainty is making organizations “tighten their belts.”
Investing in digital businesses and services at a time when revenue growth does not support IT spending is forcing organizations to cut costs, Gartner said.
In constant currency, Gartner predicts a 1.6 percent growth rate in IT spending this year, down from 2.4 percent a year earlier.
The problem is US-based multinationals can’t make as much money, even if there is a global increase in IT activity, John-David Lovelock, research vice president at Gartner, said in an interview.
Networking giant Cisco Systems Inc said in February that it was weathering a global slowdown in IT spending.
Analysts at the time said that Cisco’s warning could be a bad sign for some technology companies.
