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IT spending will increase to $2.4 trillion in 2017: IDC

The research firm expects the bulk of IT spending to come from the discrete manufacturing and banking verticals.
Written by Natalie Gagliordi, Contributor

IT spending is expected to climb 3.5 percent above 2016 to reach $2.4 trillion this year, according to a report from IDC.

The research firm expects the bulk of IT spending to come from the discrete manufacturing and banking verticals. Combined, these industries will generate roughly 30 percent of all IT revenues throughout the forecast. Significant spending will also come from the telecom industry as well federal/central government agencies.

Healthcare remains the fastest growing vertical industry over the forecast period, along with banking, media, and professional services.

In terms of size, over 45 percent of IT spending will come from enterprises with more than 1,000 employees. The SMB category will account for roughly one quarter of all IT spending, but that figure could potentially climb higher as smaller companies invest in digital transformation technology and things like cloud and machine learning.

"Global SMB software spending will surpass that of hardware in 2018, upending traditional IT spending habits," said Christopher Chute, VP of customer insights and analysis for IDC. "More mature SMBs already recognize the value of linking software investments to business processes, and by the end of the forecast, we expect most mid-market firms will be on a path to embrace digital transformation."

The majority of IT spending in 2017 will go toward application development and deployment and project-oriented services, IDC says. But, by 2020, software will edge out app development as the largest purchase category overall.

Consumer tech is expected to make up more than 20 percent of all technology revenues, however growth will be nearly flat through 2020.

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