Continued Growth in Corporate IT Spending for 1st Quarter 2010

by Jean Crumrine | December 14, 2009 8:38 am

ChangeWave’s latest corporate IT spending survey points to an uptick in corporate IT spending for 1st Quarter 2010 — and the strongest growth rate of the past two years.

A total of 1,753 respondents involved with corporate IT spending in their organization participated in the November 9-20 ChangeWave survey.

Looking ahead, 22% of respondents report their company’s corporate IT spending will increase for 1st Quarter 2010 — a 4-pt improvement since our previous survey in August. And while 21% say their company’s IT spending will decrease (or there will be no spending at all) — that’s still a 4-pt improvement from previously.

Projected Corporate IT Spending - Q1 2010

We also asked respondents if their IT spending was on track so far in the fourth quarter, and here the improvement is considerably weaker.

Twelve percent say they’ve spent More than Planned thus far in the fourth quarter, while 29% say they’ve spent Less than Planned — for a net 4-pt improvement.

Corporate IT Spending - Q4 2009

In sum, while corporate IT spending growth continues to strengthen — a bullish sign for the economy — the overall growth picture is nonetheless far from robust.

Individual Corporate IT Categories

In terms of first quarter spending, PCs (18%; up 3-pts), Platforms/ Operating Systems (11%; up 2-pts) and Storage (13%; up 2-pts) are registering the most momentum going forward — much of this attributable to the recent Windows 7 release.

This becomes even more apparent when we see the biggest winners among specific vendors.

Winners of Corporate IT Spending in Q1 2010

We asked respondents to tell us which specific vendors their company would be increasing their spending on in first Quarter 2010 compared to the current quarter and there was one hands down winner:

MSFT's Corporate IT Spending Plans - Q4 2009 vs. Q1 2010

For the second consecutive survey Microsoft (MSFT[1]; +12) shows the most momentum going forward — once again clearly attributable to the Windows 7 effect.

In the same survey we also focused on corporate smart phone buying and found the market looks very healthy going forward. Thirty-eight percent of respondents report their company plans to buy smart phones next quarter — up 3-pts from previously to the highest level in more than two years.

While Research In Motion (RIMM[2]; 69%; down 5-pts) maintains a dominant share of planned corporate buying going forward, increased competition is continuing to chip away at its huge lead.

Future Smart Phone Buying in Corporate Market - RIMM vs. PALM vs. AAPL

At the same time, Apple (AAPL[3]) continues to show growth in terms of corporate planned purchases — with three-in-ten (30%) respondents saying their company will purchase Apple phones in first quarter.

We note that most of RIM’s corporate share is heavily concentrated among larger companies (over 1,000 Employees), while Apple’s corporate share is among small- to medium-sized companies (under 1,000 Employees).

But the biggest surprise of the survey is the strong showing for Motorola (MOT[4]; 11%) — which is registering a huge 7-pt jump in terms of first quarter planned buying.

Future Smart Phone Buying in Corporate Market - Motorola

This is the first increase for Motorola in a ChangeWave corporate survey in nearly three years — clearly attributable to the recent release of their new Droid model.

To sum it up, the survey findings point to an uptick in corporate IT spending for first quarter 2010 — and the strongest rate of growth of the past two years. Nonetheless, the overall growth picture remains far from robust.

Paul Carton co-wrote this article.

Endnotes:

  1. MSFT: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=msft
  2. RIMM: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=rimm
  3. AAPL: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=aapl
  4. MOT: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=mot

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2009/12/corporate-it-spending-to-increase-in-2010/