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STATE OF IT

The annual report on IT budgets and tech trends

Game on! We've got data on the latest IT trends including breaking news on budgets, tech adoption, and the general state of IT.
Our report includes survey results from almost 900 IT buyers and social data from conversations within Spiceworks, the professional network used by millions of IT pros.

Key Takeaways

What cards will IT pros hold in 2017? Here's a peek at their hand:

1 Annual company revenue and IT budgets are remaining flat and playing a do-over in 2017.
2 Cloud and hosted services will remain major players in the coming year.
3 As buzz increases around artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and 3D printing, adoption slowly picks up.
4 Global political uncertainty is casting a shadow over IT pros’ willingness to purchase IT products and services.
lobal political uncertainty

IT Budget Stagnation

IT Budget Stagnation

Trending Topics

IT Budget

Brands to Watch

Future of IT

Future of IT

Personas 2017

Profile

STATE OF IT

IT Budget Stagnation

In many ways, it looks like IT pros will be playing a familiar hand in 2017. They expect annual revenue and budgets to level off, staffing to hold steady, and technology purchases to be driven largely by business needs.
STATE OF IT

IT Budget Stagnation

In many ways, it looks like IT pros will be playing a familiar hand in 2017. They expect annual revenue and budgets to level off, staffing to hold steady, and technology purchases to be driven largely by business needs.
Is it global economic uncertainty? Brexit anxiety? Invisible forces at play? It’s a bit of a mystery, but one truth is clear: IT budgets and staffing will remain fairly flat, making 2017 a challenging year.

IT spending won’t pass go

Most IT buyers will see stagnant IT spending in 2017. And UK respondents will have to take a couple steps back with a 5% decrease in budget from 2016. The UK may be playing the Brexit edition of the IT game this year — there’s also concern the exit could create more risk and uncertainty for business. (Get a closer look at Brexit later in the report.)
I keep putting 'heavy punching bag' in our annual budget that gets presented to partners. You know... to let the IT department blow off some steam.
M. Morris, IT Manager
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Revenue looks up… for some

Although organizations’ year-over-year annual fiscal revenue is also relatively flat across NA and EMEA, the UK outlook is gloomier. IT pros in the UK reported a year-over-year revenue drop of approximately 10% in the past fiscal year. However, 60% of all IT buyers (and 59% in the UK) expect their company’s revenue to jump ahead in 2017 as the global economy fights to stabilize.
Although organizations

Staffing stalemate

Nearly two-thirds of respondents say they don’t expect staffing changes in 2017. Without more players in the game, IT pros will need to be strategic, doing more with less (a setup they know well).
Staffing stalemate

Budget breakdown in 2017

What about budget priorities? IT buyers surveying the board still think hardware and software are the hottest properties — although they say they’re likely to spend a bit less on both. They also expect to roll a slightly bigger number on cloud-based services. In fact, 38% of IT pros consider it very or extremely important to their current business practices (compared to 29% last year).
I load up on as many managed services as possible. Managed AV, Office 365, Meraki, and managed backup streamline workflows. As far as hardware: spare PSUs for servers and workstations and spare drives. Flash drives, SSDs for upgrades, extra RAM, a drive duplicator/cloner.
Alex Bubunenko, Network/Systems Admin
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In hardware spend, desktops (18%) and laptops (16%) are nearing a tie as planned spending on desktop PCs decreases slightly for 2017 (particularly in EMEA). Server spending (17%) is also a top contender.
Software budget allocations remain relatively flat, with virtualization (15%) and productivity (13%) ranking top for priority projects. Spending on operating systems is also flat in 2017, perhaps because many organizations upgraded to Windows 10 for free (as discussed in our Windows 10 adoption report). Additionally, the most widely used operating system — Windows 7 — won’t EOL until 2020, so IT pros aren’t feeling the pressure to upgrade… yet.
Software budget allocations
Overall spend on cloud and hosted services are advancing a few moves in 2017, particularly when it comes to email hosting. However, spending on online backup and recovery is expected to remain relatively flat while spending on web hosting is expected to drop slightly.
Overall spend on cloud and hosted services

Purchase Drivers

Discount offers and new tech features aren’t going to get IT pros jumping into the buying game this year. As usual, IT buyers plan to base new purchases on technology end-of-life and additional needs due to company growth. With 2017 marking the end of extended support dates for products such as Windows Vista, Microsoft Office 2007, and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, IT pros might have good reason to make some OS investments.

However, technology upgrades can be delayed due to budget and time constraints. In fact, Spiceworks network data shows Office 2007 is still installed in 51 percent of businesses across the globe in Spiceworks. While Windows Vista is only running in 10 percent of businesses, Windows XP is still running in 56 percent, despite reaching its end of life (EOL) in 2014. Spiceworks data also shows Windows Server 2003 is running in 52 percent of businesses despite its EOL in 2015.
It has to be about showing ROI to the business. I don't think of it as an IT problem — it’s not. It’s a business decision, and investment needs to be justified to solve a problem the business is facing.
Brian Wing, IT Director
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STATE OF IT

Brands to Watch

What brands will be leaving the competition in the dust when it comes to unique, practical, cutting-edge technology? We brought out the scorecards and asked IT pros to chime in.
STATE OF IT

Brands to Watch

What brands will be leaving the competition in the dust when it comes to unique, practical, cutting-edge technology? We brought out the scorecards and asked IT pros to chime in.
IT pros say Google, Amazon, and Microsoft are top brands to watch in 2017.

Share of voice of technology brands

Who are the vendors IT buyers keep in play (and talk about)? We looked at conversations with mentions of top technology brands in Spiceworks’ most popular IT categories: hardware, security, cloud computing, and networking. The clear winners: Dell, Sophos, Microsoft, and Cisco/Meraki.
In terms of hardware mentions in Spiceworks, Dell is leading the charge. Apple has the second highest share of voice in the hardware category.

Most innovative technology brands

We asked IT pros to rank the most innovative brands to watch in 2017. The Spiceworks spinner landed on Google and Amazon as the top two companies IT pros are most excited about when it comes to bringing innovative technology to the workplace.

As victor, Google got props from IT buyers for Google Fiber, the Google Cardboard VR headset, and its smart cars. Amazon scored high marks, thanks in part to its popular cloud offerings including Amazon Web Services.

Spiceworks spinner landed on Google and Amazon
STATE OF IT

Future of IT

Thinking a few moves ahead is a good idea in any game, whether you’re playing a classic favorite or play-testing the latest bestseller. Going forward, will IT pros adopt cutting-edge tech, or will they pass for now and stick with the tried and true?
STATE OF IT

Future of IT

Thinking a few moves ahead is a good idea in any game, whether you’re playing a classic favorite or play-testing the latest bestseller. Going forward, will IT pros adopt cutting-edge tech, or will they pass for now and stick with the tried and true?
IT buyers are starting to back up the buzz in their use of AI, VR, and 3D printing.

Importance of IT initiatives

Security is still the top player in IT priorities, and IT pros think it will continue to reign supreme. However, cloud services, training and development, and mobility are all important initiatives up from last year that appear to be on a roll.

Tech talk: the latest trends in IT

Which of the latest IT trends in the media limelight are hot topics with IT pros too? We scanned the Spiceworks Community to find out. Among the top trends, IT buyers are most interested in 3D printing, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence.

Putting tech trends in play

What about actual adoption of the latest technology trends in IT? While the primary focus is still on mobility and security, some IT buyers are beginning to adopt IT automation and hyperconverged technologies. We also saw an increase in the usage of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), moving ahead from 11% to 15% in 2016. 3D printing, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence usage are also beginning to take their turn in the workplace.
"Being able to build things directly usable, such as replacement body parts and custom car parts, has really opened up the enterprise opportunities for the technology. I'm sure this will continue and people will try to print anything and everything in 3D."
Chris Johnson., Systems Administrator
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A challenging year… but still some cheer.

There’s plenty of mystery surrounding how the 2017 game board will unfold for IT pros. But a few predictions have emerged: stagnant budgets, a ton of global uncertainty, and no shortage of economic anxiety.

While there are a number of obstacles on the path ahead, IT pros are focused on what matters: strategizing out how keep their businesses up and running despite some budgetary hurdles.
And though the journey might be fraught with peril, IT pros are looking forward to taking advantage of exciting technology from innovative brands. It might be the classic two steps back and one step forward, but the IT game will continue...
STATE OF IT

Profile

This year, we polled a group of IT buyers with a distribution nearly identical to last year’s survey, so our data shows you true market shifts: that’s apples to apples, folks.
STATE OF IT

Profile

This year, we polled a group of IT buyers with a distribution nearly identical to last year’s survey, so our data shows you true market shifts: that’s apples to apples, folks.
This year’s respondents cover the board and span every company size, job title, and industry.
STATE OF IT

About Spiceworks

Spiceworks is the professional network that’s revolutionizing the IT economy. We provide millions of IT pros with the tools, content, and community they need to get their jobs done. Those users have attracted the attention of thousands of technology brands who use Spiceworks to reach IT professionals during their workday. Together, we’ve created the world’s most trusted and vibrant IT marketplace.
STATE OF IT

About Spiceworks

Spiceworks is the professional network that’s revolutionizing the IT economy. We provide millions of IT pros with the tools, content, and community they need to get their jobs done. Those users have attracted the attention of thousands of technology brands who use Spiceworks to reach IT professionals during their workday. Together, we’ve created the world’s most trusted and vibrant IT marketplace.
ABOUT SPICEWORKS VOICE OF IT

ABOUT SPICEWORKS VOICE OF IT ®

Spiceworks’ Voice of IT shares statistics, trends, and opinions collected from millions of IT professionals on the global technology issues that are important to them. To find out more about our research capabilities, email [email protected].

Follow Spiceworks on Twitter and connect with Spiceworks on Facebook.
For more information visit:
www.spiceworks.com
For other Spiceworks Voice of IT reports visit:
www.spiceworks.com/marketing/resources/
This report contains information of facts relating to parties other than Spiceworks. Although the information has been obtained from, and is based on sources that Spiceworks believes to be reliable, Spiceworks does not guarantee the accuracy, and any such information might be incomplete or condensed. Any estimates included in this report constitute Spiceworks’ judgment as of the date of compilation, and are subject to change without notice. This report is for information purposes only. All responsibility for any interpretations or actions based on the information or commentary contained within this report lie solely with the recipient. All rights reserved. 2016.
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