Cloud spending
IT Budget Forecast for 2017 Mirrors 2016 Estimates
While spending on cloud computing projects will be up for 2017, IT budgets overall are expected to be in-line with this year’s levels, a new survey from Spiceworks finds.
IT Budgets Stay Flat for 2017
On average, IT budgets will be $294,081, up about 1% from the $293,093 organizations say they will on average spend on IT in 2016. However, 60% of respondents say they expect the amount of revenue their organizations generate to increase in 2017. IT spending is usually tied to a percentage of revenue.
IT Staffing in 2017
The vast majority of organizations (64%) expect to see no change in their IT staffing requirements in 2017, but 30% did say they expect the size of their IT staffs to increase.
Budget Allocation for 2017
Just over one-third of the budgets (35%) will be allocated to hardware projects, down 2 points from 2016. Software projects will account for 29% of the budget; down 2 points from 2016. Managed services will drop from 13% to 12% in 2017, but cloud-based projects will rise from 14% to 17% of the budget in 2017.
Top Hardware Categories for 2017
The dominant line items in the IT infrastructure budget are desktops (18%), servers (17%) and laptops (16%), followed by networking (9%).
Top Software Categories for 2017
Virtualization tops the list at 15%, followed closely by productivity applications and operating systems, tied at 13%.
Top Managed Services Investments for 2017
General IT services tops the list, at 17%, followed closely by consulting, at 15%. Storage and hosting services are tied at 14% each.
Top Cloud/Hosting Investments for 2017
Email hosting tops the list, at 17%, followed by backup and recovery (14%) and Web hosting (11%).
Drivers of New IT Acquisitions
End-of-life licensing and warranty issues were cited by 70% as the primary reason for acquiring new products. Company growth/additional needs was cited 63% of the time, followed by upgrade/refresh cycles (59%), project need (58%) and end-user requirements (57%). Least cited were new features (27%) and discounts on product pricing or services (11%).
Technology Adoption Curve
A little more than four in 10 (41%) already have a mobility solution in place, and 14% plan to implement one. Meanwhile, 33% say they have advanced security solutions in place while 25% are planning to adopt them. Additionally, 30% have invested in IT automation and 19% plan to do so.
Most Important IT Initiatives
Security tops the list, at 77%, followed by networking (72%), storage (64%), virtualization and software (tied at 62%), and mobility (23%).