The 2006 CIO IT Spending Survey
Summary of Findings
RBC interviewed 50 CIO-level U.S. and Canadian executives across multiple industries regarding their spending intentions for the remainder of 2006 and 2007. Some key findings:
- Spending for the rest of 2006 to increase by six per cent.. For the remainder of 2006, 68 per cent of CIOs are planning to increase IT budgets. CIOs are focusing on specific areas rather than broad increases. Software and IT services (outsourcing) are the main spending priorities.
- Sustained spending growth for 2007. CIOs forecast moderate growth for next year at six per cent. Wireless joins outsourcing and software on the list of priorities for 2007.
- Focus On ROI. CIOs have moved beyond the infrastructure upgrade cycle dominating IT budgets since 2003 to focus on reducing costs and achieving strategic benefits.
- Software is the No. 1 priority with spending up seven per cent. Key spending priorities include business intelligence (BI), enterprise content management (ECM) and security.
- Services and outsourcing growth is steady at five percent. IT Services spending is growing in line with the broader market, with cost cutting driving outsourcing decisions. Offshoring is the fastest growth area.
- Hardware is lagging with only four per cent growth. Lagging hardware spending reflects the downward trend in pricing, along with a trend to do more with less. PC and notebook spending growth of three percent suggests a normal PC replacement cycle.
- A huge upside for on-demand applications. More than 40 per cent of CIOs plan to increase spending in this relatively new category. Web conferencing is the No. 1 application on the list, followed by human resources, payroll and sales force automation applications.
- Wireless and networking remain priorities. Spending in wireless and networking represents one of the fastest growing segments. CIOs intend to increase spending by nine per cent. Top categories include voice-over-IP, wireless data and Wi-Fi. Security remains the top concern.
- Expect more consolidation. Given recent merger and acquisition trends, many CIOs are standardizing on larger vendors to minimize risk, increasing pressure for even more industry consolidation.