In our survey, respondents indicated a continued increase in their projected investments in IT hardware for the immediate future. More significantly, fewer organizations than in the past five reporting cycles think their spending will decline this year. It appears we are in the midst of a period of relative stability in IT Asset Management, where there isn’t a need to catch up on deferred IT investments (as was the case in 2014 and 2015) that were brought on by the Great Recession.

Just as investments in IT hardware are leveling off, survey respondents have been keeping a fairly consistent refresh rate for the past few years for their desktops and laptops. Respondents expect 61.2% of retired laptops to be 4 years old or less, compared to 63.0% in 2017 and 67.5% in 2016.

For desktops, 53.1% of respondents are now refreshing their devices every 4 years or less, compared to 52.3% in 2017 and 55.0% in 2016. For laptops, the refresh rate is extending slightly over the years.

There continues to be an increase in the use of smartphones in organizations. Survey respondents reported an increase of 20% in the number of employees with company owned phones and a 23% increase in employees using their own phones for work.

Industries with above average smartphone adoption (when provided by the employer) are manufacturing, healthcare and government/municipal. BYOD adoption is led by non-profits and the education sector.