In-Stat/MDR estimates that US enterprise businesses (firms with 1000 or more employees) spent more than $225 B on information technology (IT) in 2002, up three percent from 2001 estimates. By 2006, In-Stat/MDR estimates that enterprise firms will spend nearly $256 B on information technology products, services and personnel. Enterprises are expected to be more cautious with their spending moving forward, with many having learned a lesson from the over investment in the late nineties and 2000. Firms are expected to look for investments that can improve the efficiency of their core business operations (as opposed to going into a new line of business using technology).
Although growth in spending per firm is not expected to be overwhelming, this, combined with growth in the number of enterprise firms, should lead to moderate growth in total enterprise IT spending over the next several years. Year-to-year growth in IT spending is expected to continue to increase this year and in 2004, where it is expected to peak at more than four percent. In-Stat/MDR expects that after 2004 growth should slow, falling to roughly one percent annual growth by 2006, due mainly to consolidation among the largest firms in this market. While each segment should follow this same trend, the smallest enterprise firms' expenditures should experience the greatest growth moving forward.
In comparison to other business segments, the overall enterprise market remains, by far, the largest in terms of IT spending, accounting for nearly 46 percent of all US business IT expenditures this year. However, this market's IT spending is expected to experience the slowest growth over the next several years, leading the enterprise market's share of total spending to fall to roughly 44 percent in 2006.
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