Worldwide IT spending will peak at $US3.8 trillion in 2014, marking the beginning of the Digital Industrial Economy era , according to analyst firm, Gartner.
Addressing 8000 CIOs and IT leaders at Gartner Symposium, senior vice-president, Peter Sondergaard, said the 3.6 per cent increase from 2013 indicates that every budget is becoming an IT budget, every company a technology company, every business a digital leader, and every person a technology company.
“The Digital Industrial Economy will be built on the foundations of the 'Nexus of Forces' (which includes a confluence and integration of Cloud, social collaboration, mobile, and information) and the 'Internet of Everything' by combining the physical world and the virtual,” Sondergaard said.
“Digitalisation exposes every part of your business and its operations to these forces. It is how you reach customers and constituents, how you run your physical plant, and how you generate revenue or deliver services.”
Sondergaard claims enterprises which are doing this are taking the lead, and will be at the helm of the Digital Industrial Economy.
Traditional IT suppliers will also face a fast-moving digital world where the reputation of top technology companies will be challenged. This is particularly relevant across Cloud and mobile as traditional technologies are less relevant.
“[IT suppliers’] strategy, sales force, partner ecosystem is challenged by different competitors, new buying centres, and changed customer business models,” Sondergaard added. “Digitalisation creates an accelerated technology-driven start-up environment across the globe. Many of the vendors which are on top today, such as Cisco Systems, Oracle, and Microsoft, may not be leaders in the Digital Industrial Economy.”
Where’s the money?
According to Gartner, 2020 will see 30 billion devices with unique IP addresses connected to the Internet, most of which will be products. The firm also predicts the economic value of the Internet of Things will total $1.9 trillion in the same year. Both these figures will be driven by cheap and covert computing power.
On the devices front, mobile phones, tablets, and ultra-mobile PCs will represent more than 80 per cent of spending within the category by 2017, Sondergaard claims, with nearly half of first-time computer purchases to be tablets.