Information Technology (IT) spending in Asia-Pacific is estimated to reach $743 billion in 2013, a 7.9 percent increase over 2012, while it is expected to grow 7.6 percent in 2012, according to a new Gartner report.

The report says IT spending is forecast to grow 3.2 percent in Australia in 2013 to reach $75.4 billion while in New Zealand, the growth is expected to be of only 2 percent in 2013 to reach $8.6 billion. These growth rates are slightly lower than the forecast worldwide growth of 3.8 percent.

In the Asia Pacific region, all five major segments of IT spending are expected to grow in 2013. The devices segment that includes PCs, tablets, mobile phones and printers in Asia-Pacific is projected to total $229.7 billion, a 12.3 percent increase from 2012 spending. Data center systems spending is forecast to reach $28.6 billion in 2013, a 9.5 percent increase from 2012, followed by software spending that will touch $33.9 billion, up 11.9 percent.

IT services spending will reach $91.5 billion, up 7.5 percent while telecom services are projected to total $359.4 billion, a 4.8 percent increase from 2012.

“As global markets improve in 2013 and resume growth, Asia-Pacific remains one of the bright spots of the global IT market, allowing organizations in this region to accelerate competitiveness,” said Gartner senior vice president and global head of research Peter Sondergaard. “Organizations in Asia-Pacific will be able to innovate and compete using what we call the nexus of forces, or the intersection of Cloud, Mobile, Social and Information. New business models will emerge in this region.”

Gartner also predicted that by 2014, IT hiring in major Western markets would come predominantly from the Asian-headquartered companies enjoying double-digit growth.

“An increasing number of successful Asian companies — particularly from China and India — are enjoying double-digit growth rates and will substantially grow their geographic footprints, making significant investments in major Western markets through 2015. Consequently, these organizations will be responsible for major hiring of IT professionals to support their growth at a time when Western companies will still be coping with the impact of the economic crisis,” Sondergaard said.

By 2015, 4.4 million IT jobs globally will be created to support big data. Of these, 960,000 will be in the Asia-Pacific region. Every big data-related role in Asia-Pacific will create employment for three people outside of IT, so a total of 4 million jobs in the region.

However, only one third of the IT role will be filled due to lack of skills in big data. Governments and organizations will need to focus on education and skills development to remain competitive, according to Gartner.

Australia