Businesses worldwide are spending more on technology that helps them conduct business online, Forrester Research Inc. says in a new study.

Although spending on “back-office” information technology—including communications equipment, telecommunications systems and financial accounting systems—accounts for the lion’s share of global spending on technology, spending is growing faster on technology designed to acquire, serve and retain customers—what Forrester classifies as business technology, including e-commerce, customer relationship management and supply chain management systems—the business and technology research firm says in “The Global Tech Market Outlook for 2016 to 2017,” which was authored by Forrester analyst Andrew Bartels.

While business technology spending will represent a little more than a quarter of total technology spending in 2016 and 2017, it will account for more than half of spending on new technology projects in both years, Forrester says. “In the United States and other growing countries, the business technology agenda is so compelling that it will cause that portion of the tech budget to grow at 8% to10% annual rates,” Forrester says. It says the top 10 countries with the fastest growth rates in business technology, starting with the fastest, are India, Mexico, Sweden, China, Poland, Israel, the United Kingdom, the U.S., Spain and Denmark.

Among the specific areas of business technology Forrester cites for fast growth is software-as-a-service versions of e-procurement software that companies use to manage spending with approved suppliers. SaaS makes software available through web browser access, freeing uses from having to run the software on their own infrastructure.

Following are Forrester’s estimates of total global spending on business technology, the category that includes e-commerce, and the growth rate from the prior year:

• 2015—$699 billion, up 2.5%;
• 2016—$756 billion, up 8.1%;
• 2017—$827 billion, up 9.4%.

In comparison, Forrester estimates spending on what it defines as information technology declined by 5.8% in 2015 over 2014, to $2.137 trillion from $2.268 trillion; and will increase 2.3% in 2016 to $2.187 trillion and 3.4% in 2017 to $2.261 trillion.

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