Spend on IT fell by $216bn in 2015, claims Gartner

Last year saw largest drop in IT spending ever recorded by analyst firm

Global spending on IT in 2015 fell by $216bn compared to 2014, according to analyst group Gartner - the largest drop in IT spending ever recorded by the company.

Gartner said that 2014 spending levels won't be surpassed until 2019. John-David Lovelock, research vice president at the analyst group, added that the US dollar was "the villain" behind 2015 results.

"US multinationals' revenue faced currency headwinds in 2015. However, in 2016 those headwinds go away and they can expect an additional five per cent growth," he said.

The only area within IT in which spending had seen growth was in data centre systems - a 1.8 per cent growth from 2014. Software, devices, IT services and communications services all saw a decline.

Gartner has forecast that worldwide IT spending will total $3.54tr in 2016, just a 0.6 per cent increase over 2015 spending of $3.52tr. It forecasts that data centre systems will again see year-on-year growth, this time with an increase of three per cent, bringing spending to $175bn in 2016.

Spending on software is forecast to reach $326bn, a 5.3 per cent increase from 2015. Gartner notes that key countries in emerging markets, particularly Brazil and Russia, face "escalating political and economic challenges". It warned that organisations in those regions must balance cost cutting with growth opportunities during times of economic concern.

Meanwhile, spending on the IT services market is also expected to return to growth in 2016, following a decline of 4.5 per cent in 2015. IT services spending is projected to reach $940bn in 2016, up 3.1 per cent from 2015. Gartner said that this was due to accelerating momentum in cloud infrastructure adoption and buyer acceptance of the cloud model.

Both the devices market and the communication services market are likely to see declines, Gartner predicts. The analyst group said that Windows 10 and Intel Skylake-based PCs are likely to drive the PC market forward, but the speed of adoption won't be that fast, particularly in Eurasia, Japan, the Middle East and North Africa, where companies are moving away from purchasing these expensive devices in the short term, but are expected to revert back to buying in 2017 as the economic environment stabilises.

Telecoms services spending meanwhile is projected to decline 1.2 per cent in 2016, with spending reaching $1,454bn. Gartner said the area would be impacted by the abolition of roaming charges in the EU and parts of North America.

"While this will increase mobile voice and data traffic, it will not be enough to counter the corresponding loss of revenue from lost roaming charges and premiums," it said.