IT outsourcing customers are readying themselves for a positive year ahead with worldwide IT spending expected to grow, new data suggests.

International Data Corporation (IDC) revealed its forecast for 2010, which predicts a 3.8 per cent increase in global IT expenditure this year, taking the total up to $1.47 trillion.

Spending on services is anticipated to grow by 1.5 per cent, with software set for a 3.1 per cent increase.

Hardware will lead the way, with a growth rate of 6.4 per cent predicted by IDC.

In the previous year, the IT industry suffered from a 4.2 per cent reduction in spending, but these figures reveal that it has rebounded strongly and looks set for a fruitful 2010.

An earlier forecast by Gartner, IT industry analyst, suggested that worldwide enterprise IT spending across all industry sectors would increase by 4.1 per cent during the rest of the year, which was slightly down on its previous prediction of 5.3 per cent.