Mumbai: Technology budgets in the United States
are set to dip 0.03 per cent in 2003 compared to 2002,
according to an IT spending confidence survey by Gartner
and SoundView Technology Group (STG).
The survey, conducted
among IT users and business executives among the attendees
at Gartner Symposium / ITxpo 2002 held in October in Orlando,
Florida, is a leading US indicator of technology spending
levels and intent. The survey respondents represent more
than $23 billion of technology spending for their corporations.
The prediction
this year is similar to last years prediction for
2002 IT spending. This year, however, respondents expect
less seasonality in their fourth quarter IT spending than
last year.
The survey indicates
that demand for technology products has reached an inflection
point. While top-down budget responses resulted in a flat
year-on-year comparison, spending intentions by priority
are up for the first time since 2000 and spending intentions
by vendor are up for the first time since 1998.
The draconian
budget cuts of the past two years have flattened while
demand continues to build, says Gartner senior vice-president
Al Case. This natural economic phenomenon will create
a gap between IT budgets and IT demand for the next six
to 12 months.
The survey also
identifies certain IT product areas that are likely to
experience better growth in 2003. Those areas include
application integration and development, storage, network
hardware, Linux servers, as well as desktop and portable
computers.
While
2003 is not likely to be a watershed year for spending,
the increase in demand for technology products suggests
the likelihood of a spending increase by the second half
of the year, says STG CEO Mark Loehr. If a
spending delay does occur throughout 2003, then 2004 will
be a significant spending year.
|