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Worldwide enterprise IT spending is projected to total $2.7 trillion in 2012, a 3.9 percent increase from 2011 spending of $2.6 trillion, according to Gartner, Inc.

While enterprise IT spending growth is slowing (from the expected 5.9 percent increase in 2011), analysts said it’s important to note that despite the global economic challenges, enterprises will continue to invest in IT.

"The days when IT was the passive observer of the world are over. Global politics and the global economy are being shaped by IT,” says Peter Sondergaard, senior vice president at Gartner and global head of Research. “IT is a primary driver of business growth. For example, this year 350 companies will each invest more than $1 billion in IT. They are doing this because IT impacts their business performance.”

Sondergaard says two-thirds of CEOs believe IT will make a greater contribution to their industry in the next 10 years than any prior decades.

“For the IT leader to thrive in this environment, IT leaders must lead from the front and re-imagine IT,” notes Sondergaard. “IT leaders must embrace the post-modern business, a business driven by customer relationships, fueled by the explosion in information, collaboration, and mobility.”

This new era brings with it urgent and compelling forces. They include: the cloud, social, mobility, and an explosion in information.

“These forces are innovative and disruptive just taken on their own, but brought together, they are revolutionizing business and society,” underscores Sondergaard. “This nexus defines the next age of computing. To understand this change, you must appreciate each of the forces.”

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