This is good news. According to a new forecast from Forrester, global tech spending will rise 7.1 percent in 2011 to $1.7 trillion, according to new forecast data from Forrester. Analyst Andrew Bartels writes that while the 2011 global tech market will be similar to the 7.2 percent market growth experienced in 2010, there will be significant differences between the two years in terms of both products and geographies.
Andrew projects that after the computer restocking and replacement boom that propelled the tech market in 2010, hardware growth will slow to 7.4 percent, with software starting to accelerate. Enterprise demand for wireless, unified communications, and videoconferencing is also increasing. The IT services and outsourcing market will be mixed, with growth in some areas (e.g., project services in the US and outsourcing in Latin America) but weakness elsewhere.
It is interesting to note that what is often considering the developing areas (Latin America and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EEMEA) regions) will have the highest growth rates in 2011, both at 9.8 percent. Asia Pacific, at 8.5 percent, and the US, at 7.5 percent, will grow slightly faster than the total global market. This is consistent with general growth in GDP in some of these areas. For example, the report mentions that according to the latest poll of economists by The Economist, both Argentina’s and Brazil’s real GDP will grow by 5.1%, with Chile’s growing 5.9%
After a strong 2010, the Canadian IT market will only grow at 4.9 percent. Western and Central Europe and will have the lowest growth rate, at four percent, with the combination of weak economic growth and a depreciating euro combining to hold dollar-denominated growth down. The weakest markets in this area will be Italy, Spain, Belgium, Greece, Ireland, and Portugal. Best performing will be the UK, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Poland.
The US tech industry will grow about twice as fast as nominal GDP in 2011, at 7.4%, as investments in cloud and Smart Computing solutions provide the IT tools for companies to grow profits despite weak revenue increases. Software sales will be stronger than hardware. The government market for IT will lag, though, as federal, state, and local governments struggle with high deficits. I can see this as I read about struggling state and local budgets and federal efforts to cut spending.
There is much more detail in the 38 page report which is available at the Forrester site. I appreciate receiving a review copy.
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