The level of spending on technology is anticipated to fall in the next year in Europe and the US as economic uncertainty continues.

According to the latest quarterly poll of CIOs from UBS, confidence remains shaky and IT budgets are expected to fall by an average of 1.3 per cent.

Companies looking to do more with less and boost their revenues may turn to IT outsourcing, which can deliver cost savings and improved efficiency.

A previous poll had suggested that IT budgets would grow by 0.5 per cent but confidence has since faded as European governments have made public sector cuts in order to combat huge budget deficits.

Approximately one third of respondents said there had been delays to projects or even cancellations owing to problems in euro zone.

The only area of concentrated spending was found to be in the building of data centres as businesses look for ways to cope with growing data demands.