Global spending on information technology is expected to reach $3.9 trillion in the year ahead, up 3.4% from 2019, as companies ward off political and economic uncertainties by investing in cloud software aimed at cutting costs, research firm Gartner Inc. says. The firm also expects world-wide IT spending to exceed $4 trillion by 2021, according to a report released Wednesday. Enterprise software will continue to lead overall spending this year as the fastest-growing market segment, climbing 10.5% from 2019 to $503 billion, the report said. Spending on data centers declined 2.7% last year to $205 billion, while software rose 8.5% to $456 billion, Gartner said. “We have efficiency goals every year to improve our run-the-business costs and hedge our risks during downturns,” said Vijay Sankaran, chief information officer at TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.

Source: Wall Street Journal January 15, 2020 23:03 UTC