23 May 2002 US corporate IT spending will fall by 0.4% this year, according to a survey by market research group Gartner and investment bank Goldman Sachs.

The IT Spending Confidence Survey found that IT departments’ tech budgets would remain flat throughout the rest of 2002. Almost four-fifths of respondents added that they would not change their tech spending regardless of any immediate changes in the broader economy, in spite of the fact that 90% said that they expected a modest recovery in the world economy by the end of the year.

Despite the insistence of CIOs that they would stick strictly to their budgets, Gartner nevertheless believes that total tech spending will nudge ahead by 1.5% during the rest of this year, due to a rise in spending in the fourth quarter. It highlighted security, storage, web-based applications and handheld computers as sectors that would enjoy stronger growth in 2002.

Web services, categorised as ‘web-based applications’, are also gaining traction. A whopping 63% of those surveyed plan web services projects within the next two years.