Hardware, Software Spending Will Take Up Less Budget

Spending on hardware is projected to consume 35 percent of budgets, down from 37 percent in 2016, while software will take up 29 percent, down from 31 percent, the results showed.

Resellers, take note: Out of eight hardware categories, only one – security appliances – is expected to rise as a percentage of budget in 2017, while spending on laptops and tablet and mobile devices is projected to remain flat. The others – desktops, networking, external storage and printers – will consume less of IT budgets.

On the software side, virtualization (15 percent) and productivity (13 percent) rank at the top of seven spending sub-categories. Operating systems are also projected at 13 percent, but down from 15 percent this year.