Beancounters at Gartner say that IT spending in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) will reach $1.154 trillion in 2013, a 1.4 percent increase from 2012 projected spending of $1.138 trillion.

Gartner sees pockets of growth in IT in Europe, mainly driven by devices and software, particular in the area of big data. Peter Sondergaard, senior vice president at Gartner and global head of Research said that this year is a pessimistic year for IT spending in Europe.

“In 2012, we estimate that IT spending will decline 3.6 percent in EMEA and 5.9 percent in Western Europe. However, the EMEA region will return to growth in 2013 and continue to grow through 2016 when spending will reach $1.247 trillion,” he said.  

Sondergaard said that the mobile device market is currently the bright spot of the IT industry with tablets and smartphones significantly outpace purchases of traditional PCs. Gartner estimates that spending on mobile device will amount to $136 billion in 2012, reaching $188 billion in 2016.

In Western Europe, both consumers and businesses are adding tablets to their portfolio of mobile devices which will increasing the total mobile device market growth by 8 percent in 2012. This contrasts with a decline of 5 percent in the mobile PC market in Western Europe. In Eastern Europe and the Middle East and Africa, mobile phone shipments will dominate the market, with tablet adoption increasing through to 2016.

Sondergaard said that by 2016, two-thirds of the workforce will have a smartphone or tablet device. This will change the way consumers buy software and transform the market. Traditional software providers will have to rewrite their applications for these tablet-based environments, and there will be a strong increase in software spending.

Gartner estimates that EMEA IT spending in software will grow 3.1 percent in 2013, nearly reaching the $100 billion mark in 2016.