A leading research organisation has projected a fall in IT spending over the next year, noting that computer budgets will not be as bad as after the dotcom crash.

Gartner stated that although the current economic climate was affecting and impacting IT costs in the short-term, there would not be losses comparable to those encountered in the online recession of 2001, where budgets went from double-digit growth to low single-digit growth.

Senior vice-president at Gartner Peter Sondergaard said that developed economies would be worst hit by the new projections, with the US and western Europe being the most affected by spending increases that are now thought to be limited at 2.3 per cent for 2009.

He added: "We learned that in tumultuous times, chief executive officers want their executives and managers to be advisors and counsellors, not just great implementers of directions given to them."

Mr Sondergaard heads a team of 650 analysts at Gartner and was formerly a research director at IDC in Europe.

More than half of small businesses (53 per cent) believe that the most important benefit of outsourcing is guaranteed response times for IT support, London-based Connect conducted the research in 2007.