IT Spending Expected to Drop

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The number of business and organizations expecting to increase their IT budgets in the coming months is at its lowest level in several years, new research reveals.

The latest CDW IT Monitorfound that 40 percent of IT decision-makers expect an increase in budgets over the next six months — 8 percentage points below last year and the lowest tally since 2009.

Overall, the research suggests the IT industry's future is a mixed bag. While the study revealedlower expectations for budget increases and hiring and a drop in overall hardware spending, it also projected increases in software spendingand a more optimistic outlook in key sectors, including small business and health care IT.

"This shows that while IT decision-makers are evaluating and scrutinizing their investments, they are still spending, especially in areas such as software and security," Neal Campbell, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at CDW, said in a statement.

In the corporate sector, 22 percent of small-business IT decision-makers predict budget increases in the next six months, gaining 3 percentage points from June. Additionally, small businessesare expecting to increase software investments from last year by 6 percentage points and solutions investments by 5 percentage points over the next six months.

In the health care industry, 66 percent of IT decision-makers anticipate budget increases in the next six months, while 92 percent expect to purchase hardware and software.

The health care industry, meanwhile, continues to see an uptick in IT hiring, up 24 percentage points since June.

In the public sector, despite dips in state and federal government IT budgets to the tune of nearly 10 percent, 29 percent of local government IT decision-makers foresee budget increases in the next six months, up 7 percentage points from June.

The research shows that investments in IT solutions remain a priority in both corporate and government sectors. Nearly 60 percent of IT decision-makers who are spending more on solutions this month will spend on security.

The CDW IT Monitor is based on surveys of more than 1,000 IT professionals among all sizes of companies, multiple industries and three levels of government.