Pulse: Valuable Verticals

Gartner Dataquest research also predicted parallel findings on an international level when forecasting 2004 worldwide IT spending across various vertical markets. For starters, the U.S. government was cited as being a vital vertical market for growth in overall IT expenditures, driven by defense projects and civil agencies like Homeland Security, and the State and Treasury departments. At the worldwide level, Gartner estimates government spending to reach $321 billion worldwide by 2007 ($136 billion by local and regional governments and $185 billion at the national and international level). In addition, IT spending by the financial services market, having shifted from cost saving to revenue generation, is projected to reach $437 billion worldwide in the next three years.