Across the world, IT budgets are on a substantial upswing as leaders start to realise the necessity of further investment in new technology endeavours. Cloud computing, further IT training for staff and greater security are all pushing spending upwards.

As a result, it's important for businesses to understand IT spending and exactly what's going on with global IT budgets.

What's on tap for 2015

A report from CIO explained that high-profile data breaches have pushed the need for security even higher, and this is going to keep security at the top of the priority list. A substantial 46 per cent of IT leaders who responded to a CIO poll said this was the year they'd invest more in a number of security systems, including:

• Intrusion prevention
• Identity management
• Virus and malware protection

Cloud computing was also stated as a top priority, with businesses starting to consider public, private and hybrid cloud deployments.

Business analytics, wireless and mobile, and application development all followed. Hardware spending, on the other hand, was estimated to see a decline. This isn't altogether surprising – especially with cloud computing now more of a priority than ever before.

Differences in budget opinions

According to a new study from Gartner, female CIOs are now more risk-aware than male CIOs. Female CIOs said they expect IT budgets to increase by 2.4 per cent this year, while male CIOs expect increases of 0.8 per cent.

"For a second year in a row, the women in our survey are expecting greater budget increases than the men," said Tina Nunno, vice president and Gartner Fellow.

"While it's not entirely clear why this difference exists, further survey data indicates that female CIOs are more concerned about underinvestment in risk initiatives than male CIOs."

Aside from risk, female respondents also placed more importance on new types of information. A significant 19 per cent of female CIOs said social information and multimedia were increasing in importance, while just 13 per cent of male CIOs thought the same.

The above studies show that IT spending is something leaders need to stay attuned to – especially given the opportunities at hand. Failing to properly allot for IT budgets could mean the business isn't able to access new technologies.

Certainly, one of the best options for any business is greater IT governance, by way of a framework such as COBIT5. Speak to ALC Training today to find out more about this framework.

Female CIOs are thinking differently to their male counterparts.