IT Services Spending Signals Major Role Change For CIOs Ahead
CIO, Tuesday, January 23rd, 2024
Gartner's 2024 IT spending forecast: With IT services poised to take the lion's share of IT spend, it's high time CIOs recognize their value proposition is undergoing significant transformation.
Analyst firm Gartner has released its 2024 worldwide IT spending forecast, and the topline is eyepopping: Overall IT expenditures are projected to grow 6.8% this year to a hair under $5 trillion.
That growth more than doubles what the firm pegs as 2023's growth rate (3.3%), doldrums Gartner attributes not to macroeconomic forces but largely to what it calls 'change fatigue among CIOs' - that is, IT leaders' hesitance to sign new contracts or commit to long-term initiatives.
But the storyline CIOs should note from this year's spending forecast is not about overall volume or uptick, or even whether generative AI is behind this year's perky numbers (it isn't). It's about how IT services as a category is rising to become the No. 1 spending segment for the first time ever - a top spot Gartner believes it won't relinquish in the foreseeable future - with major consequences for the way CIOs work.