SMEs will drive IT growth

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will fuel demand for IT in the next five years, analyst house IDC predicts.

SMEs are now set to make up 53 per cent of all spending on IT in 2005, IDC has reported, with spend among midsize businesses growing by four per cent this year. The analyst house is forecasting that after several lean years, the very smallest businesses - those with between one and 99 employees - will begin to open up their wallets for IT again.

Public sector organisations are likely to show the biggest spending growth, with healthcare and government institutions leading IT spend by updating their infrastructure.

The largest IT investment growth will come from the lower end of the large enterprise segment, those organisations with between 500 and 999 employees, which will see spending growth of around 4.8 per cent.