The global economic slowdown put the brakes on significant amounts of IT spending. But recent reports from Framingham, Mass.-based research company International Data Corp. indicate a rebound is on the way as early as 2002. The reports, including “After the Crash: Where Do We Go from Here” and “Global IT Economic Outlook, 2001,” paint a picture of an economy – and IT budgets – ready for growth in the coming months. According to IDC analyst Kevin White, the reasons are simple: Fundamental IT drivers – the desire for additional productivity gains and the continued emergence of the Internet – will force companies to implement new technologies.
Those needs, combined with renewed economic momentum derived from interest rate cuts and signs of stability in the stock market, will begin to affect IT spending during the coming year. White also pointed to projections for future e-commerce spending – worldwide growth from US$350 billion in 2000 to US$5 trillion by 2005 – as signs that IT spending can’t stay flat for long.
“We’re not anticipating that there’s going to be an overnight recovery,” White cautions. But at least it appears that better times are on the way.