"Although still positive, IT budget increases remain anemic," according to the report from market research firm Aberdeen Group. In a similar survey last September, chief information officers indicated their overall IT budgets would increase an average of 3.7 percent over the next six to 12 months.
Customer service applications, storage management, and backup and recovery software were among the most likely to be purchased, according to the most recent study, with all categories scoring high on the purchasers' priority lists.
IT outsourcing was the most popular category for services, with purchasers expecting to spend 1.8 percent more over the next six to 12 months.
The Aberdeen report echoes earlier gloomy predictions of technology spending. Forrester Research predicted that tech spending would grow just 1.9 percent this year, while Goldman Sachs warned of a 1 percent drop in spending on hardware and software in 2003, based on its survey of chief information officers.
Other studies have been more optimistic; IDC said 85 percent of the companies it surveyed planned to increase or maintain their IT spending this year.
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