EMEA IT spending to increase to $1.154 trillion in 2013

IT spending in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) will reach a staggering $1.154 trillion in 2013, Gartner has predicted.

According to the company, this is a 1.4 percent increase from 2012’s projected spending of $1.138 trillion.

It said that despite the ongoing economic crisis, pockets of growth were being seen in IT in Europe. This was mainly driven by devices and software, while big data is also predicted to change the landscape of IT, with Gartner claiming will create new jobs.

Peter Sondergaard, senior vice president at Gartner and global head of Research, described IT spending in Europe this year as “pessimistic”. He said the company predicted that this would decline 3.6 percent in EMEA and 5.9 percent in Western Europe in 2012.

However, the EMEA region is predicted to return to growth in 2013 and continue to grow through 2016 when spending will reach $1.247 trillion.

The mobile device market is currently described as “the bright spot of the IT industry,” with the company claiming that tablets and smartphones are significantly outpacing purchases of traditional PCs. It said that spending on mobile devices in EMEA was predicted to be $136 billion in 2012, reaching $188 billion in 2016.

By 2016, two-thirds of the workforce are also predicted to have a smartphone or tablet device, forcing software companies to rewrite software and a rise in this market, which will grow 3.1 percent in 2013, nearly reaching the $100 billion mark in 2016.

The shift is also claimed to lead to to a complete change of architecture, which will see an integration of cloud, mobile, social and information and in turn create new jobs, new revenue, and require new skills.