Worldwide IT Spending to Decline 5.5% in 2015, Gartner Forecasts

Worldwide IT spending will decline 5.5 percent in 2015, though in constant-currency terms the market is projected to grow 2.5 percent to $3.5 trillion, Gartner predicted Tuesday in a forecast report. Gartner previously projected that IT spending would decline 1.3 percent during 2015 and would grow 3.1 percent in constant currency. Communications services will continue to dominate IT spending through the end of the year, with expenditures in that segment to total almost $1.5 trillion, Gartner said. Spending on IT services will total $914 billion, while device spending will total $654 billion, Gartner said. “We want to stress that this is not a market crash,” said Gartner Vice President-Research John-David Lovelock in a statement. “Such are the illusions that large swings in the value of the U.S. dollar versus other currencies can create.” However, “vendors do have to raise prices to protect costs and margins of their products, and enterprises and consumers will have to make new purchase decisions in light of the new prices,” Lovelock said.