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Worldwide IT spending could top $4.1 trillion this year, as businesses bounce back from the pandemic with new digital ambitions, according to forecasts from Gartner. Worldwide IT spending is expected to grow 8.4 percent as businesses push forward with digital transformation initiatives, and the spending will continue to grow through 2022. The highest sector identified comes from devices (14 percent) – such as laptops and tablets. Next comes enterprise software at 10.8 percent. Gartner said the reason for the spending is because organiza- tions are re-thinking the traditional workspace in line with recent shifts to remote and hybrid working. Banking and securities and insur- ance spending could resemble pre-pandemic levels as early as 2021, while retail and transportation “may not see the same recovery until closer to 2023,” said the research firm. China already has surpassed 2019 IT spending levels, while North America and Western Europe are expected to recover in late 2021. Latin America is expected to recover in 2024, Gartner said. According to the analyst, the surge in IT spending this year is not coming from traditional IT departments. Instead, other areas of businesses are undergoing digital transformations. These units see IT charged as a cost of revenue or cost of goods sold. “IT no longer just supports corpo- rate operations as it traditionally has but is fully participating in business value delivery,” said David Lovelock, research vice president at Gartner. “Not only does this shift IT from a back- office role to the front of business, but it also changes the source of funding from an overhead expense that is maintained, monitored and sometimes cut, to the thing that drives revenue.” One IT segment in particular seeing increased investment is social software and collaboration platforms, and human capital management software, which comes as a result of a heightened focus on employee experience and wellbeing in a remote work setting. CIOs will continue to focus on optimization and cost savings, even though Gartner pointed out the priority for IT leaders for the remainder of 2021 will be to see through digital transfor- mation initiatives and improve the value of the company. “Last year, IT spending took the form of a ‘knee-jerk’ reaction to enable a remote workforce in a matter of weeks,” said Lovelock. “As hybrid work takes hold, CIOs will focus on spending that enables innovation, not just task completion.” The challenges of the past year have led to a record-breaking number of Americans turning to entrepreneurship. By analyzing data highlighting business applications across America, TOP Data found that since the onset of the pandemic business creation has been at an all-time high. Indeed, while the growth curve of new business applications has been steadily increasing since 2013, the onset of the pandemic triggered a spike in new business creation that surpasses anything witnessed in the previous 15 years. According to TOP Data, 2021 started with a 39 percent increase year over year in business creation across the U.S. More than 423,000 new business were launched in February 2021 alone. Tech Spending to Skyrocket, Says Gartner New Business Boom Top 10 States With The Greatest Number of New Businesses Created During The Pandemic Source: TOP Data g? 2021 Florida 50,972 40,730 35,682 26,450 24,694 16,752 13,702 13,510 12,559 12,468 California Texas Georgia New York Illinois North Carolina Pennsylvania Michigan New Jersey When decision makers are involved during cloud ITDM vs. BDM % % $95 billion Market valuation of VoIP market by 2027, according to Global Market Insights. The managed IP PBX solution segment is predicted to witness more than a 15 percent growth rate through 2027 due to growing demand for outsourcing management of enterprise communication. 49 July - August 2021 | CHANNEL V ISION