Australian IT spending to reach almost $100bn in 2020: Gartner

The Australian IT market is expected to see an upturn in 2020, as businesses revisit technology spending amid receding recession fears, according to Gartner's latest predictions.

The research firm expects total spending on IT products and services to grow 5.7% this year to $99.63 billion, and a further 3.5% in 2021 to reach $103.17 billion.

IT services will remain the largest category, with total spending on track to grow 5% to $36 billion. Spending on communications services is likewise expected to increase 5% in 2020 to $28.53 billion.

But the largest growth will be seen in the software segment, with Gartner projecting that total spending will increase 11.9% to $18.88 billion.

Meanwhile spending on devices will increase by a more modest 2.3% to $13.09 billion, with data centre spending set to grow 3.3% to $3.16 billion, Gartner said.

For 2021, Gartner is projecting slight declines in spending on both data centre systems ($3.1 billion) and devices ($12.52 billion), but continued strong growth in software ($21 billion) and IT services ($37.63 billion).

Growth in communications services revenue will be more flat, with Gartner estimating that the segment will be worth $28.88 billion.

New Zealand's IT market is similarly projected to grow 5.5% in 2020 to NZ$14.3 billion ($13.73 billion), and reach almost NZ$14.9 billion next year.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/rrice