Enterprise IT spending in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) will reach €604bn in 2011, a 1.4% decline from 2010, according to IT research firm Gartner.
Euro-based enterprise IT spending in the region will grow by 2.3% in 2012, but Western Europe will continue to slow EMEA growth through 2015.
Western Europe, which accounts for 80% of EMEA enterprise IT spending, will see enterprise IT spending in Euros decline by 1.8% in 2011 and grow by only 1.5% in 2012, the research firm said.
In 2011, the largest share of Western Europe enterprise IT spending will comprise government sector including education, with 20% share of the total, but will decline by 4.8% in 2011 and 1.7% in 2012, predicts Gartner.
The research firm said that austerity measures brought in to deal with the sovereign debt crisis will curtail government spending on IT in particular and hinder economic growth.
Gartner senior vice president and global head of Research Peter Sondergaard said the second recession is about to hit and CIOs must decide which way to turn.
"The continued global economic uncertainty and the eurozone crisis will impact your IT budget in 2012, and your business will face difficult budgetary questions. Your choices will depend on which geographies you operate in, your industry, and the strength of your organization when the economic storm arrives," Sondergaard said.
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Sondergaard said, "By 2014, CIOs will have lost effective control of 25% of their organisation’s IT spending, and by 2017, chief marketing officers may have a bigger IT budget than CIOs do."
