With market intelligence
consultancies IDC and Forrester expecting IT spending to grow this
year, this segment could prove to be a safe bet for lessors.

GE Capital, for example, expects IT spend to
be “flat or marginal” – in line with IDC’s 3.2 percent growth
prediction.

“We anticipate that investment in IT equipment
from the small business market is likely to be flat at best,” said
David Dolbear, business development leader, GE Capital. “It is more
likely growth will come from the medium-sized enterprise section of
the market.”

Dolbear added that within IT, services and
software are “likely” to be the drivers of the recovery.

“Managed services, cloud computing, data
centres and software as a service are all areas that we think could
push growth in 2010. But we expect IT hardware investment will be
flat or marginal,” he said.

German lessors are also positive about IT.

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“This segment is relatively immune to the ups
and downs of the economy,” said Friedhelm Westebbe, head of the
German leasing association, BDL. “There is always a need for new
computers and copiers, and as they can be acquired without tying up
too much capital, businesses are prepared to invest in them even
when times are hard.”

Meanwhile, Microsoft also predicts that
businesses will increasingly lease – rather than buy – IT
equipment.

“As technology moves quickly and becomes more
important to business, a move to leasing could help cut costs while
ensuring firms are still up-to-date,” Robert Epstein, head of small
business sales at Microsoft UK, said.

“We are already seeing this with the increase
in firms turning to cloud computing, where they rent server space
rather than install costly servers.”

Jason T Hesse