Global IT spending is on pace to surpass $3.9 trillion next year, a 3.9 percent increase from 2014. Much of this spending, however, will be driven by the thriving “digital industrial economy.”
That’s the exact projection put forward this week by the team at Gartner.
“The impact that the digital business economy is having on the IT industry is dramatic,” the report summary reads. “Since 2013 650 million new physical objects have come online. 3D printers became a billion dollar market; 10 percent of automobiles became connected; and the number of Chief Data Officers and Chief Digital Officer positions have doubled.”
Next year, Gartner estimates, all of these things will double again.
Gartner defines digital business as new business designs that blend the virtual world and the physical worlds, changing how processes and industries work through the Internet of Things.
“This year enterprises will spend over $40 billion designing, implementing and operating the Internet of Things,” says Peter Sondergaard, senior vice president at Gartner. “Every piece of equipment, anything of value, will have embedded sensors. This means leading asset-intensive enterprises will have over half a million IP addressable objects in 2020.”