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Spending on IT services in Australia is anticipated to ramp up this year, growing by 6.1 per cent to $39.2 billion.
According to research firm Gartner, this places it as the second-highest growing IT spending category, just behind enterprise software, which is predicted to grow by 19.1 per cent to $4.2 billion.
The largest spending category within IT services will be business and technology consulting, which is anticipated to grow 8.3 per cent to nearly $8.5 billion by the end of the year.
Overall, IT spending in Australia is expected to reach $111.1 billion, representing growth of 6.3 per cent, a revision from its prediction of 5.9 per cent made in July last year.
This is a higher percentage than the growth forecast for worldwide IT spending, which is predicted to rise by 5.1 per cent year-on-year, to US$5.1 trillion.
“2022 is the year that the future returns for the CIO,” said John-David Lovelock, distinguished research vice president at Gartner.
“They are now in a position to move beyond the critical, short term projects over the past two years and focus on the long term. Simultaneously, staff skills gaps, wage inflation and the war for talent will push CIOs to rely more on consultancies and managed service firms to pursue their digital strategies.”
Looking past 2022, Gartner claimed organisations will look to expand upon their reliance on external consultants, with the demand for digital transformation driving a wedge between the ambitions of digital ambitions and their internal resources and capabilities.
“This will be particularly poignant with cloud as it serves as a key element in achieving digital ambitions and supporting hybrid work,” said Lovelock. “Gartner expects the vast majority of large organisations to use external consultants to develop their cloud strategy over the next few years.”
