Small companies are planning to spend more on technology this year, it has been claimed, which could be good news for IT outsourcing.

A survey of over 1,000 technology professionals by Spiceworks revealed that the average IT budget for the next year has increased by nine per cent, with 43 per cent of small and medium-sized businesses reporting a rise.

The poll also showed that, on average, 47 per cent of IT budgets are earmarked for new hardware purchases, 34 per cent are allocated to software and 19 per cent will be spent on IT services.

Jay Hallberg, co-founder and vice president of marketing for Spiceworks, commented: “The technology spending slowdown among small and medium businesses seems to be over.”

Last month, technology market analyst IDC predicted that small firms will increase their IT budgets by 5.5 per cent in the years from 2010 to 2014 to reach a collective value of more than $629 billion (Ј406 billion).