UK business investment in information and communications technology hit a new record high in 2014, reaching £34.4bn (48.0bn), according to BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions.
This was a 24% increase compared to the total businesses’ IT capital spending recorded at the height of the recession in 2009, when it stood at £27.6bn.
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BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions found that private sector IT investment exceeded its pre-crisis peak of £30.9bn in 2008.
According to the lessor, this growth was driven by investment in software, which jumped by 6% in the last year alone from £25.8bn in 2013 to £27.5bn in 2014. The company calculated that software accounted for 80% of businesses’ IT capital expenditure in 2014, up from 74% ten years ago.
In the first quarter of this year, businesses spent £6.9bn on software.
Tristan Watkins, UK country manager for BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions said: "Investment in software is surging ahead because while most hardware has become relatively cheap and increasingly standardised, developments in software are advancing all the time."
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By GlobalData"Whether that’s industry- or application-specific software such as accounting or design packages, supply chain management programmes or sophisticated security software, businesses know that the right software will help them to be more efficient or provide better customer service than their competitors."
