Software spending set to grow next year, but not in West

Its survey of 1,000 IT professionals worldwide during April and May shows that on average, organisations plan to increase their budgets 1.53% in 2010. Joanne Correia, managing vice president at Gartner, says that North America is still expected to decline 2.06", while the Europe, Middle East and Africa region only shows slight growth at 0.45% for 2010 compared with 2009. Meanwhile, software budgets in Latin America are expected to rise 2.54% and in Asia/Pacific, they will increase 4.34%. Gartner analysts believe this is a reflection of the relative maturity of western markets. Generally, the survey finds software spending still "holding ground", and Gartner says it is recommending that vendors work toward helping clients understand where they can cut costs and better utilise resources to allow new budgeted money to go further. "Software vendors should continue to build, fund and invest in software sales and marketing programmes, even during tight market conditions to maintain customers and expand revenue opportunities," says Correia. "A market downturn is a disrupter that creates great marketing and sales opportunities for organisations prepared to take advantage of the right products, marketing programs and funding."