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By Margaret Kane, 11 March 2003 11:48

NEWS 2003 IT budgets remain 'anaemic' And the following year? Don't assume it'll be better... Information technology budgets will increase a mere 2.7 per cent over the next six to 12 months, according to a recent survey of chief information officers and other IT purchasing executives. "Although still positive, IT budget increases remain anaemic," according to the report from market research firm Aberdeen Group. In a similar survey last September, chief information officers indicated their overall IT budgets would increase an average of 3.7 per cent over the next six to 12 months. Meanwhile, a similar poll of 420 European CIOs by Gartner has pointed to a marginal average increase in IT budgets in 2003, though "most [CIOs] do not anticipate substantial growth in 2004". According to the Aberdeen study, customer service applications, storage management, and back-up and recovery software were among the most likely to be purchased, with all categories scoring high on the purchasers' priority lists. IT outsourcing was the most popular category for services, with purchasers expecting to spend 1.8 per cent more over the next six to 12 months. The Aberdeen report echoes earlier gloomy predictions of technology spending. Forrester Research predicted that tech spending would grow just 1.9 per cent this year, while Goldman Sachs warned of a 1 per cent drop in spending on hardware and software in 2003, based on its survey of chief information officers. Other studies have been more optimistic; IDC said 85 per cent of the companies it surveyed planned to increase or maintain their IT spending this year. Margaret Kane writes for CNET News.com. silicon.com's Tony Hallett contributed to this report.