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Cloud spending

1 - IT Budget Forecast for 2017 Mirrors 2016 EstimatesIT 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.

2 - IT Budgets Stay Flat for 2017IT 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.

3 - IT Staffing in 2017IT 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.

4 - Budget Allocation for 2017Budget 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.

5 - Top Hardware Categories for 2017Top 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%).

6 - Top Software Categories for 2017Top Software Categories for 2017

Virtualization tops the list at 15%, followed closely by productivity applications and operating systems, tied at 13%.

7 - Top Managed Services Investments for 2017Top 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.

8 - Top Cloud/Hosting Investments for 2017Top Cloud/Hosting Investments for 2017

Email hosting tops the list, at 17%, followed by backup and recovery (14%) and Web hosting (11%).

9 - Drivers of New IT AcquisitionsDrivers 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%).

10 - Technology Adoption CurveTechnology 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.

11 - Most Important IT InitiativesMost Important IT Initiatives

Security tops the list, at 77%, followed by networking (72%), storage (64%), virtualization and software (tied at 62%), and mobility (23%).