Software budgets expected to grow

Although organisations in Asia Pacific expect to continue to be conservative with their total IT budgets in 2010, software budgets are expected to increase, according to a survey by Gartner.

The survey showed that organisations in Asia Pacific plan to increase their software budgets by 4.4% on average in 2010, while overall IT budgets are expected to decline by 3.1% on average. More organisations in Asia Pacific (38%) expect to increase their software budgets in 2010 than their overall IT budget (31%).

The average expected increase in software budget of 4.4% is higher than all other regions surveyed, including Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), North America and Latin America.

Gartner surveyed 323 IT managers in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, China, India and Hong Kong, as part of a worldwide survey of 982 respondents, to help business and IT managers compare their enterprise IT spending with peer organisations.

Respondents were asked whether they expected their 2010 IT budget to be below, the same or exceed their IT budget for 2009.

India-based respondents are consistently the most optimistic, with the highest number of respondents intending to increase their IT budget in 2010 (42%), followed by China (32%).

On the other hand, Malaysia-based respondents remain pessimistic, with the largest number of respondents intending to decrease their spending (52%), followed by Singapore (48% of respondents).

When looking at country-level software spending, India is the most optimistic, with the average expected change in software budget of +10%. Australia and Singapore, although considered mature markets, are not conservative, expecting positive average change in software budget for 2010.