Information Technology Spending in United States Expected to Increase, Accenture Study Finds

Despite Increased Spending in Recent Years, Executives Believe Their IT Budgets Are Still Too Small

NEW YORK; March 16, 2006 – The majority of business and information technology (IT) executives in the United States anticipate increases in IT expenditures over the next three years, according to results of an annual study released today by Accenture.

The study, which queried 300 general business managers and IT executives from large U.S.-based companies, found that six out of ten executives (60 percent) expect their organizations to increase their IT expenditures over the next three years. Only 13 percent of respondents expect their organizations to reduce IT spending. The average increase in spending during the next year is expected to be 5.5 percent.

Additionally, while more than two-thirds (69 percent) of executives said that IT spending at their organizations has increased in the past three years, nearly one-third (32 percent) indicate that spending is less than it should be.

Of those respondents who expect IT spending to increase over the next three years, the greatest number (21 percent) selected “new business initiatives” as the most important factor driving the rise in expenditures. “Upgrading legacy systems” and “adopting new technologies” followed closely, selected by 19 percent and 18 percent of those respondents, respectively.

“This healthy outlook on IT spending is further bolstered by the quality of the spending,” said Gary Curtis, managing partner of Accenture’s global Strategic IT Effectiveness practice. “Growth initiatives, more than maintenance activities, are driving the rise in investments.”

The survey identified the following additional factors contributing to the rise in IT expenditures:

About the Study
In early 2006, Accenture surveyed 300 executives at U.S. companies with average revenues of $8 billion to gauge IT spending trends for the next one to three years. Half of the respondents were IT executives whose titles included CIO, CTO and manager, and the rest were business managers whose titles included senior manager, vice president, director, division/department head and executive vice president, as well as executives in c-suite positions.

About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Committed to delivering innovation, Accenture collaborates with its clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. With deep industry and business process expertise, broad global resources and a proven track record, Accenture can mobilize the right people, skills and technologies to help clients improve their performance. With more than 126,000 people in 48 countries, the company generated net revenues of US$15.55 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2005. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

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Rachel Barere

+ (917) 452 3771

rachel.v.barere@accenture.com

Joel Staley

+1 (305) 347 4368

joel_staley@mia.bm.com