IT spending could be a casualty of economic uncertainty: Gartner

Worldwide spending on information technology could become one of the casualties of global economic uncertainty this year, according to research firm Gartner Inc .

Worldwide IT spending is expected to fall slightly this year to $3.49 trillion, as the strong U.S. dollar continues to take its toll, the firm said on Thursday.

The global uncertainty is making organizations “tighten their belts”.

Investing in digital businesses and services at a time when revenue growth does not support IT spending is forcing organizations to cut costs, Gartner said.

In constant currency, Gartner predicts a 1.6 percent growth rate in IT spending this year, compared with 2.4 percent a year earlier.

The problem is US-based multi-nationals can’t make as much money, even there is a global increase in IT activity, John-David Lovelock, research vice president at Gartner said in an interview.

Networking giant Cisco Systems Inc said in February that it was weathering a global slowdown in information-technology spending. Analysts at the time said that Cisco’s warning could be a bad sign for some technology companies.

Spending on devices like PCs, mobile phones, tablets and printers is also expected to decline 3.7 percent to $626 billion, Gartner said, due to the global saturation in the smartphone and PC markets.