More than 60 percent of EU organisations expect IT budgets to rise in 2021 to manage the “new normal”, research has found.
Lifecycle management provider 3StepIT interviewed more than 1,000 IT professionals in August 2020, across the UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark
The research found that the average increase in European IT budgets will be 21 percent from 2019 levels. The largest increases are anticipated in Norway (37 percent) and Germany (27 percent), with the lowest increases in the UK (16 percent) and France (15 percent).
More than half (54 percent) of businesses cited COVID-19 as the top factor driving spending changes in the next 12 months, as IT strategies focus on facilitating social distancing (47 percent) and increased home working (46 percent) in 2021.
According to the ‘State of Business IT 2020’ report commissioned by 3stepIT, 25 percent of businesses surveyed believe budgets could increase by as much as 30 percent within the next 12 months.
Given that the average IT budget is shown to be £2.7m across EU businesses, this could mean an additional investment of over £800,000 in new technology.
Commenting on the research, Carmen Ene, chief executive of 3stepIT, said: “Priorities for businesses across Europe have shifted dramatically this year and our research shows that, for the most part, companies have successfully responded to the challenges of remote working forced upon them by COVID.
“It’s now clear the mobile workforce is here to stay, and while IT budgets for many firms will increase to cover the costs of this digital transformation, IT managers are being asked to demonstrate the value of every expense.”