Most CIOs expect IT budgets to rise next year

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Chief Information Officers (CIO) are expecting their organization’s IT budgets to rise 3.7% next year, according to a new report from Gartner.

In its annual global survey of CIOS and technology executives across the EMEA region, gathering answers from 2,387 respondents in 85 countries and all major industries, Gartner found the IT budget increase for next year is somewhat higher, compared to the average global IT budget growth of 3.6%. 

“The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated a shift toward digital where funds have been reallocated internally toward IT,” said Monika Sinha, research vice president at Gartner. “This IT budget increase also means EMEA CIOs and technology executives have a choice of where to invest.” 

The report fond that of all the technologies they want to spend on, CIOs are most interested in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and distributed cloud, as these can enable modular technology capabilities. 

Global IT spending to grow

However, two-thirds of EMEA CIOs (65%) plan on spending the highest amount on cyber and information security, as rising threats are making the landscape infinitely more challenging. As soon as security is up to date, they’ll shift their attention towards business intelligence and data analytics, cloud platforms (47%), as well as API architecture and digital business transformation initiatives (37%).

Globally, spending on IT is set to remain high next year, as companies look to get back on track following the pandemic. In a separate Gartner report published in late October, worldwide IT spending is expected to total $4.5 trillion next year, with virtually all subsets of IT on the rise. 

Enterprise software, however, is expected to have the highest growth, increasing 11.5% compared to the same period in 2021.

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Sead is a seasoned freelance journalist based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He writes about IT (cloud, IoT, 5G, VPN) and cybersecurity (ransomware, data breaches, laws and regulations). In his career, spanning more than a decade, he’s written for numerous media outlets, including Al Jazeera Balkans. He’s also held several modules on content writing for Represent Communications.