Overall IT spending has bottomed out, and 2004 and 2005 will see a minimum of strong single-digit growth over 2003 levels, according to international research firm Gartner.
Although the aggregate number will rise, Gartner states that growth rates will vary widely by technology sector. The firm`s analysts presented these findings during the Gartner Tech Investor Summit, which is currently under way in New York.
"We are now seeing a true recovery in the making," says Al Lill, group VP for Gartner. "There is a key combination of technology advances, architectural changes, market forces and best practices in place to lead a good recovery for IT in the near future and culminating in very strong growth in the longer term."
Gartner analysts predict the recovery will be coupled with a tremendous skills shift within the IT workforce, impacting hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of workers. Areas in which skills will be most highly valued include broadband, wireless, Linux, content management, real-time analytics, data mining, security, middleware, certification skills, business intelligence and knowledge management.
They also state that a massive vendor consolidation cycle will accelerate through 2005, by which time more than 50% of current technology suppliers will be eliminated from the competitive landscape. An important ramification of this will be vendors` ability to regain pricing power in several technology sectors.
"Real productivity gains will be achieved through the replacement or greatly diminished role of entire industries," Lill says. "For example, the combination of secure broadband wireless, very low-power consumption mobile electronics and new display technologies will have stunning consequences for the publishing, media and advertising industries, to name a few."
Share
