29% of Irish companies expect lower IT spending in 2005

After a rebound in 2004, the Irish IT market is set to continue growing in 2005, but IT departments in many organizations are facing pressure to cut IT spending, according to IDC. While the vast majority of organizations expect business to be better in 2005, many face challenges that mean they need to keep costs down. This will be to the detriment of IT expenditure in many cases. As a consequence, IDC expects that growth in the IT market will be slower than that of the economy as a whole. As a guide to the health of the market, 45% of organizations expect their IT expenditure to be up on last year, while a significant 29% expect lower spending this year (up from 23% in 2004).