Spending by IT departments has accelerated at its fastest rate for 18 months, the latest survey has revealed.
23.02.2004 - CCL News

Spending by end-users grew by 5.2% in the last quarter of 2003, up from 3.9% in the third quarter, providing further evidence that IT is pulling out of the worst downturn for a decade.

Small and medium-sized companies and the public sector are driving the growth, outstripping larger companies and the private sector, the survey revealed.

Companies employing less than 500 staff spent 7.5% more on IT in the last quarter of 2003, compared to the 3.9% increase generated by larger companies.

Kris Wicka, director at Kew Associates, said, "SMEs are still playing catch-up with larger firms when it come to IT expenditure, so the difference in spending may continue in the future."

The public sector continued to generate healthy expenditure growth, with a 6.6% increase, although this was not as high as the 7.2% and 8% increases in the previous two quarters.

Although the private sector still lagged behind the public sector overall on expenditure, the services sector did enjoy a spurt in growth of 5.5% in the last quarter, the survey found. This was compared to the 3.4% achieved in the previous quarter.

The production industries, buoyed by the CBI's belief that the manufacturing downturn was over, built on their previous IT growth by spending 3.3% more in the final quarter.