Latest IT Priorites data shows software making gains

October’s IT Priorities findings show that software infrastructure has reclaimed the second place position from hardware upgrades, which is now back as the no. 3 top priority among our approximately 500 respondents who take our survey each month.

Drilling down, we found that current spending on ERP projects averaged 25% of enterprise software spending in the last 12 months, but a slight drop in spending is predicted to 21% of all enterprise software spending in the next 12 months. Spending on CRM solutions is expected to remain at an average of 15% over the next 12 months while investment in directory services is expected increase to an average of 19% for the coming year.

Meanwhile, wired & wireless networking projects, which account for the greatest proportion of responses in our data, averaged 16% of IT spending in the last 12 months, on par with networking spending during the previous year. Spending for networking solutions is expected to increase over the next 12 months, reaching an average of 24% for the coming year, with well over a quarter of that amount slated for VoIP solutions.

Over in hardware upgrades, server projects averaged 47% of hardware spending in the last 12 months, with 24% of spending on storage projects for the same time frame. Looking ahead, spending for server solutions is expected to decrease 4% over the next 12 months, while spending on storage projects is expected to reach an average of 24% for the coming year.

Within security, the number four top IT priority, we found that initiatives to counter cyber threats averaged 40% of security spending in the last 12 months, but that it is expected to decrease over the next 12 months, reaching an average of 27%. In contrast, authentication/encryption spending is expected to increase to an average of 23% of security spending for the coming year from just 15% currently.

The table below shows the ranking of all nine 12-month planned technology categories we track.