SAN FRANCISCO, USA: InformationWeek Reports has announced its latest research report on Outlook 2012.

Outlook 2012 encompasses analysis of results from InformationWeek's recent survey on IT spending, staffing plans and strategies for 2012, said a press release.

More than 600 business technology professionals responded to this poll.

According to 2012 edition of InformationWeek's annual Outlook survey, fifty-six per cent of respondents say their companies plan to increase tech spending in the coming year, up from 46 per cent two years ago.

Three-quarters of respondents see heightened demand for new IT projects, up from about half in our Outlook 2010 survey. This budget growth builds on last year's momentum, while strong demand for tech projects is a positive sign for overall business expansion and investment.

"Since 83 per cent of respondents to our 2012 Outlook poll are management, either IT (70 per cent) or corporate (13 per cent), this survey gives a very clear picture of plans," says Lorna Garey, content director of InformationWeek Reports.

"Areas covered in the report include what to expect in emerging tablet, enterprise social networking, data center and big data technologies," added Garey.

Other findings:

Two years ago, the IT hiring picture was bleak: Just 14 per cent of companies were expanding compared with 18 per cent making cuts. Today, 25 per cent are expanding vs. just 9 per cent cutting back.

23 per cent say IT is viewed as a business driver and is therefore asked to cut spending less than other departments.

49 per cent of respondents say their companies will increase spending on data center software next year compared with just 9 per cent cutting that spending; 42 per cent say they will increase spending on data center hardware, while 12 per cent will cut.

Tech pros are changing their tune about tablets: 51 per cent of IT pros last year "strongly disagreed" that their companies would give tablets to even 10 per cent of employees who normally would get a PC. Now just 35 per cent of respondents are that deeply skeptical.

Members can download research data by clicking here...