Despite an ongoing drive to lower the costs of IT services, nearly 75% of government IT budgets globally were reported as flat or increasing in 2013. In addition, cloud computing was ranked the eighth most important technology priority for government CIOs, said research house Gartner
The rising or flat government IT budgets is in contrast to that of the private sector, which is significant as management practices, financial indicators, business metrics and the adoption of IT in government generally lag behind those of the private sector.
"After years of being told to "do more with less," many government CIOs report that budgets have stabilized or are increasing, placing them in a better position to deliver and manage IT services more effectively and efficiently," said Rick Howard, Gartner research director.
"These CIOs are now poised to boost the business value of IT by radically restructuring their services portfolio to drive innovation and improve the performance of government." Howard will later present at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo in October.
Bright outlook may be short-lived
When compared to other sectors of the economy, the relatively brighter IT budget outlook in government may be short-lived, according to Gartner analysts.
Gartner's CEO and Senior Executive Survey 2013 indicates that private-sector business leaders are poised to boost investments in e-commerce, mobile, cloud, social and other major technology categories. Despite this, Gartner projects a modest compound annual growth rate of 1.3% for IT spending in the government and education sectors through to the end of 2017, with increased spending for IT services, software and data centers. These increases are offset by reductions in internal technology services, devices and telecom services.