ESG is in the process of analyzing a mountain of data about 2010 IT spending intentions. It's a big job as we surveyed 515 mid-market and enterprise organizations in North America and Western Europe, but the data is starting to paint a good picture of what to expect this year.
First of all, it appears that IT spending will increase. Just over half of those surveyed said that their organizations will increase IT spending in 2010 as opposed to 43% in 2009. Not an overwhelming change but a statistically signficant change nonetheless.
Another positive sign is where firms will focus their IT dollars. In last year's survey, 54% of respondents indicated that IT dollars were pointed toward projects focused on IT and business cost containment. Cost containment initiatives are still important, 45% of organizations believe that these projects will impact IT spending but what's most interesting is spending in other areas. In 2010, areas like business process improvement, security/risk management, regulatory compliance, and business intelligence will have more impact on IT spending than they did last year. In other words, organizations will look for new ways to use IT as a strategic advantage again.
Further good news for networking and security companies:
33% of organizations said that "increasing use of server virtualization" is a top IT priority. These firms will need help with their data center networks and security tools.
28% of organizations said that "information security inititives" are a top IT priority. Interestingly, network security tops their long list of security initiatives.
27% of organizations said that "upgrading their network infrastructure" is a top priority. The research indicates that these folks need new core routers, switches, WLAN equipment, ADCs, and WAN optimization gear.
The research doesn't indicate a return to the go-go years of IT spending but it does point to some cause for optimism.