In January 2020, economists were bullish on North Americas economic recovery and downright excited about what would be happening in countries like China and India. Companies like Gartner, IBM, Intel, PWC and others assessed the growth areas. Even if the numbers are all slightly different, what they agreed on was that IT spending would increase through 2021 and beyond.
Depending on whose research you read…
- 40 – 46% of businesses planned to increase their tech spend in 2020.
- Nearly 50% of businesses planned to replace outdated technology, with an emphasis on Legacy Network Systems and portable devices.
- In Canada, nearly 30% of enterprise-level firms plan to invest more in security assessments, cyber-security technologies. Over 60% of people surveyed said that a “cyber incident” was prompting the purchase; the rest cited the increasing number of very public ransomware attacks that crippled companies, costing them millions. Still, others were making the investment to keep their cybersecurity risk insurance intact.
- Usage of edge computing was expected to double before the end of 2021, with corresponding expenditures.
- Over 60% of enterprise-level firms planned to lay the foundation for 5G adoption by the end of 2021.
- Adoption of, and investment in, AI-power technologies was expected to increase two-to-threefold by 2021.
Then came COVID-19.
After the initial scramble to get employees up and running from home as quickly as possible, many companies froze spending. Now, as the economy is opening up again, and senior executives are trying to determine what hybrid version of work “on premise” versus work from home or elsewhere, makes the most sense for their organization.
In the process, many CIOs and network/IT specialists are realizing that upgrades are needed in terms of the network to ensure that employees have an identical experience in terms of connectivity, as well as access to data and applications, no matter when they are working or from where. And it goes without saying that there will be increased cybersecurity risks to guard against, not to mention the upgrades already on the drawing board.
The good news? As CIOs are looking to expand their budgets, CFOs are realizing there are extra funds in the kitty thanks to reduced overheads and government subsidies during the pandemic. As a result, economists are starting to predict there will be an uptick in IT spending as businesses strive to regain lost ground.
Even better news? Many hardware and software manufacturers were hard-hit this spring and are looking to boost their numbers. If you are thinking about upgrading, now might be the right time to make that investment.
If you would like some guidance, you are very welcome to contact us, even if you don’t plan to buy from us. We are always here and happy to help.
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