Enterprise software spend to reach $620 billion in 2015: Forrester

There's a generally positive consensus among 2015 predictions for the US economy, and according to Forrester's annual industry outlook, the tech market forecast for 2015 is equally optimistic.

Forrester posits that CIOs can confidently push for 2015 budget increases of 4 percent to 6 percent in terms of the purchase of tech goods and services. Specifically, analysts project that global IT spend will grow by 5.3 percent in local currency terms. Growth in the global tech market overall will rise by about two percent over the next two years.

As was the case last year, Forrester pinpointed that the US will lead in total tech spending, followed by China, India and the UK.

Forrester expects software to be the biggest area of spending increase this year at $620 billion. Much of that will go toward analytics, as-a-service, and enterprise process apps such as ERP and CRM. Mobile also continues to be a hot category, with spending on mobile apps to experience double-digit growth.

Forrester analyst Andrew Bartels doubled down on the analytics aspect, recommending that CIOs need to be focused on building up their big data capabilities in order to stay competitive.

One economic aspect that sets 2015 apart from the last several years is the plummeting price of oil. Forrester crowns oil uncertainty as the biggest wildcard in the tech market outlook, as it has the potential to provide a significant lift to oil-consuming economies. If the low prices stick around, Forrester expects 2015 growth to be two percentage points higher than its forecast.