Monday Morning Impact – August 1

Gartner Forecasts Worldwide IT Spending to Grow in 2022

Worldwide IT spending is projected to total $4.5 trillion in 2022, an increase of 3% from 2021, according to the latest forecast by Gartner, Inc. While IT spending is expected to grow in 2022, it will be at a much slower pace than 2021 due to spending cutbacks on PCs, tablets and printers by consumers, causing spending on devices to shrink 5%.

“Inflation is top of mind for everyone,” said John-David Lovelock, distinguished research vice president at Gartner. “Central banks around the world are focusing on fighting inflation, with overall inflation rates expected to be reduced through the end of 2023. However, the current levels of volatility being seen in both inflation and currency exchange rates is not expected to deter CIOs’ investment plans for 2022.

“Organizations that do not invest in the short term will likely fall behind in the medium term and risk not being around in the long term,” he added.

Price increases and delivery uncertainty, exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, have accelerated the transition in purchasing preference among CIOs, and enterprises in general, from ownership to service — pushing cloud spending to 18.4% growth in 2021 and expected growth of 22.1% in 2022. Not only is cloud service demand reshaping the IT services industry, but it is also driving spending on servers to 16.6% growth in 2022, as hyperscalers build out their data centers.

Spending on data center systems is forecast to experience the strongest growth of all segments in 2022 at 11.1%. Cloud consulting and implementation and cloud managed services are expected to grow 17.2% in 2022, from $217 billion in 2021 to $255 billion in 2022, helping to drive the overall IT services segment to 6.2% growth in 2022.

The critical IT skills shortage being felt across the globe is expected to abate by the end of 2023 when the corporate drive to complete digital transformations slows down and there has been time for upskilling and reskilling of existing staff, Gartner predicts. However, in the near term, the researcher expects that CIOs will be forced to take action to balance increased IT demand and dwindling IT staffing levels.

The Gartner Global Labor Market Survey of nearly 18,000 employees in the first quarter of 2022 showed compensation is the No. 1 driver for IT talent attraction and retention. Technology service providers are increasing prices on IT to allow for competitive salaries. This is driving an increase in spending in software and services through 2022 and 2023. Worldwide software spending is expected to grow 9.6% to $806.8 billion in 2022 and global spending on IT services is forecast to reach $1.3 trillion.

Channel Impact^®
CIOs are using more IT services to assist in the lack of skilled IT staff, providing additional opportunities for channel partners.

Bitdefender Launches New Managed Detection and Response Service

Bitdefender, a Bucharest- and Santa Clara-based cybersecurity company, has unveiled “MDR Foundations,” a new managed security service that provides continuous threat monitoring and response, intelligence-based threat hunting and MDR capabilities designed for managed service providers (MSPs) and customer organizations with limited resources.

The service leverages Bitdefender GravityZone Business Security Enterprise unified security platform, which incorporates risk assessment and hardening, prevention, endpoint detection and response (EDR), cross-endpoint threat correlation and extended detection and response (XDR) with sensors that go beyond the endpoint.

Capabilities include 24×7 threat monitoring, detection and response, as well as proactive human-led threat hunting. MSPs, partners and customers also have access to Bitdefender security analysts through an MDR portal that allows clients to connect with their Bitdefender team 24×7, view alerts, manage endpoints and take recommended actions to contain or eliminate threats all from a single dashboard.

“Cybercriminals and advanced cyber-attacks are no longer confined to large organizations, as they were in the past,” said Daniel Clayton, vice president of global security operations and services at Bitdefender. “As the threat landscape continues to evolve, organizations with smaller budgets and smaller security teams are finding that protecting themselves and their end customers is increasingly challenging.

“MDR Foundations is a big step forward in innovating for this underserved market to even the playing field with a powerful ‘always-on’ detect and response service that combines award-winning technology with elite security experts that scales on-demand.”

Channel Impact^®
The service augments in-house security and IT teams’ ability to overcome the cybersecurity skills gap, promising faster detection and threat elimination, reduced attacker dwell time, and streamlined security operations for improved cyber resilience.

Insight Partners Announces Enterprise Technology Exchange

New York-based software investor Insight Partners announced the establishment of its Enterprise Technology Exchange, a council of European and North America-based technology leaders who will identify and discuss technology trends with an eye towards establishing valuable insights to the software sector and enterprise ecosystem.

The panel is made up of distinguished executives representing companies from across the globe, including Boeing, Bayer, Cigna, Deutsche Telekom, Mercedes-Benz, Reckitt, Schneider Electric, S&P Global, and Walgreen Boots Alliance, and Zurich Insurance Group.

“Today’s announcement is the culmination of years of experience working with global technology leaders to help them access innovation that can bring about digital excellence and agility in their business operations,” said Elizabeth van den Berg, executive vice president at Insight Partners. “The knowledge transfer from startups and ScaleUps to enterprises, and vice versa, is invaluable to the vitality of the software sector and we are pleased to provide a forum for information exchange and learning between the innovation ecosystem and the corporate leaders of global business.”

“I’ve spent my career learning how and working to drive innovation across a number of industries,” said Noelle Eder, Global Chief Information Officer at Cigna. “I’m energized and motivated by our work on topics ranging from innovation and organizational transformation to new technical approaches and patterns that pave a smoother road to value creation.”

“Software is key for the digital transformation, not only for our company,” said Jan Brecht, Chief Information Officer at Mercedes-Benz Group. “ScaleUps play an important part in that, as they can be fast and innovative, while having proven to be relevant.”

“Today’s digital leaders and entrepreneurs are expected to navigate through uncertainty with agility, and through opportunity with velocity,” said S&P Global’s Chief Information Officer Swamy Socherlakota. “The fusion of thought leadership between diverse global CIOs and founders of ScaleUps collectively creates a digital melting pot for applied innovation and value creation.”

The Enterprise Technology Exchange follows on the heels of Insight Partners’ Government Advisory Board. Insight believes that software companies can drive an outsized impact on the economy and job creation.

Channel Impact^®
With members from leading Fortune 1000 companies, Insight Partners and its portfolio companies will have the opportunity to benefit from the decades of wisdom and experience the Enterprise Technology Exchange leaders bring to the table in a trusted, private forum.