CIOs See Software Spending Spree

Nearly 60 percent of CIOs anticipate increasing their software spending through the rest of 2006, while only 33 percent expect spending to remain flat and 2 percent expect a decrease in spending.

Those are the results of a new survey by Merrill Lynch analysts, who released their results on Aug. 16 in a report called “July ’06 Survey of Software Spending Intentions.”

The survey questioned 100 CIOs in North America during July 2006, about software spending and purchases.

Of those surveyed, 59 percent were from companies with $1 billion or more in revenue, and the rest worked at small and midsize businesses.

Of those CIOs who were questioned in the survey, many—88 percent—said that issues such as inflation and higher interest rates will not deter future spending on software during the year.

The Merrill Lynch analysts found that 59 percent of CIOs foresaw increasing their spending levels in 2006 from previous spending levels in 2005.

A similar survey in April 2006 found only 47 percent of CIOs intended to increase spending.

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“Only 33 percent of CIO’s expect spending to remain flat, down from 42 percent in April,” wrote Kash Rangan, the lead analyst.

“Combining these responses with the 2 percent of CIOs who are anticipating reduced spending due to macroeconomic concerns, suggests that software spending has a positive outlook for the remainder of the year.”

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