Gartner predicts IT spending in Europe will reach US$1.1 trillion in 2024, fuelled by investments in cloud security and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). This marks a significant increase in IT services expenditure across Europe.
The firm forecasts a 9.3% rise from this year’s estimated US$1 trillion in IT spending. Cloud computing, particularly IaaS, is set to play a key role, with a projected 27% surge in 2024.
CIOs are increasingly focusing on Artificial Intelligence and generative AI, contributing to the uptick in cloud spending. AI-related security risks are prompting higher expenditure on technology integration and safety measures.
Gartner notes a shift in business priorities amid economic uncertainty, with preparations for the future driving spending in areas like security and risk management. These sectors are expected to see about US$56 billion in spending, up 16% from 2023.
In another forecast, Gartner projects a 20.4% increase in public cloud services end-user spending, reaching US$678.8 billion in 2024.
Josh Boer, Director at Tech Consultancy VeUP, said: “Cloud services are rapidly increasing in popularity, offering numerous businesses benefits such as flexibility, agility, cost optimisation and enhanced innovation. It is expected that the demand for cloud will continue to grow in the coming years and for businesses that wish to keep up with digital transformations that are happening across the marketplace, tapping into the benefits cloud environments bring is a must. AWS, in particular, enables businesses to increase innovation while driving down costs through a tailored suite of services that cater to an organisation’s specific needs.
“For businesses to successfully transition, providers must ensure issues are addressed, supporting businesses in the implementation process while ensuring that cost-related issues which can appear later down the line are mitigated. Once problems are addressed, businesses can enjoy the full benefits cloud has to offer allowing them to navigate through market shifts using scalable resources.”
John-David Lovelock, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner, said: “Despite a conflated economic situation, IT spending in Europe continues to be recession-proof. CIOs in Europe who pursued the ‘growth at all costs’ strategy for over a decade are now shifting the emphasis of ongoing IT projects toward cost control, efficiencies and automation, while curtailing IT initiatives with longer ROIs.
“AI has also added a new level of concern around security ensuring that their systems are wrapped before hackers get near their sensitive data.”