More than half of companies (51%) expect their IT budgets to remain flat going into 2019, while 38% expect IT budgets to increase, according to the 2019 State of IT Budgets report from Spiceworks. Companies that expect budgets to increase anticipate an average 20% rise, said a press release.

The report surveyed 780 business technology buyers from companies of various sizes and industries, including manufacturing, healthcare, non-profits, education, government, and finance.

SEE: 2019 IT Budget Research Report: IT spending increases due to business conditions, security, and revenue opportunities (Tech Pro Research)

Driving forces behind company spending are dependent on the size of the organization. Among companies increasing their budgets in 2019, large organizations (88%) reported increases in budget due to security concerns, said the release, while midsize organizations reported tax cuts to be the reason for increased tech budgets.

Small organizations planned to increase hardware investments with their budget raise, and large enterprises planned to allocate funds towards cloud budgets, said the release. All companies, however, plan to to use 35% of IT budgets on hardware in 2019, including desktops, laptops, servers, and power and climate hardware, said the release.

“Most organizations, particularly small businesses, are increasing IT budgets in 2019 to upgrade aging IT infrastructure and support digital transformation initiatives,” said Peter Tsai, senior technology analyst at Spiceworks, in the release. “However, large enterprises, typically with more data and devices to lock down, are primarily increasing budgets due to growing security concerns. With more employees to target, larger organizations recognize the importance of boosting budgets to protect against phishing attacks and avoid potentially crippling malware.”

IT decision makers are twice as likely to be the sole decision makers for spending in technology categories, rather than business decision makers, said the report. In small businesses, this likelihood doubles, as IT decision makers are four times as likely to be sole decision makers.

Check out this TechRepublic article to learn more about how CXOs can properly budget as IT continues to grow.

The big takeaways for tech leaders:

  • Some 89% of organizations expect IT budgets to either grow or stay the same in 2019, but where IT budgets are spent depends on the size of the company. — Spiceworks, 2018
  • Large companies were driven by growing security concerns to increase IT spending, while midsize organization pointed to tax cuts as the reason for increased tech budgets. — Spiceworks, 2018