Forrester boosts 2008 tech spending forecast
For the technology sector, it may be a case of good news now and so-so news later; one wild card for the tech sector is the poor health of the nation’s banks and other financial-services companies, which account for about 18 percent of the U.S. technology market
Forrester Research on Tuesday raised its estimate of what U.S. companies and government agencies will spend on information technology this year. Forrester envisions the market to grow 5.4 percent, up from a May prediction of 3.4 percent growth. Amid the turmoil on Wall Street, and on the same day computer company Dell warned of slowing global demand, the analyst firm said growth in 2009 will be softer than expected, and weighted more toward the latter half of the year. Information-technology spending is now expected to grow by 6.1 percent next year, down from the firm’s prior forecast of a 9.4 percent increase.
AP reports that Forrester is pinning its estimates on a likely slowdown in the overall U.S. economy, which figures to reduce growth in tech. Andrew Bartels, a Forrester vice president, had expected that overall economic hit to come in the first half of 2008. But now he believes it will come by mid-2009. “The first half of the year turned out to be better than expected,” Bartels said. Reasons include the economic stimulus package and the way the weak U.S. dollar boosted overseas exports.
One wild card for the tech sector is the poor health of the nation’s banks and other financial-services companies. Bartels estimates that the financial industry makes up about 18 percent of the U.S. technology market.
