As many companies still suffer revenue declines, IT spending is accelerating ahead of revenue expectations worldwide according to Gartner, with boards and CEOs being more willing to invest in technology that has a clear tie to business outcomes, and less so for everything else.

For example, the IT services segment is among the top three highest growth areas for 2021 primarily due to a boost in infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) spending that supports mission critical workloads and avoids high on-premises costs.

The IT services segment, meanwhile, is forecast to total $1.2 trillion in 2021, an increase of 9.8% from 2020.

This projection for 2021 slightly exceeds the global research firm’s previous forecast, which predicted growth of 8.4% year-on-year.

“Technology spending is entering a new build budget phase,” said John-David Lovelock, distinguished research vice-president at Gartner.

“CIOs are looking for partners who can think past the digital sprints of 2020 and be more intentional in their digital transformation efforts in 2021. This means building technologies and services that don’t yet exist, and further differentiating their organisation in an already crowded market.

“Digital transformation can no longer be purchased overnight, and global IT spending projections reflect that. As the world continues to open back up, businesses will invest in tools that support innovation, anywhere operations and employee productivity and trust.”