As the world has become more connected, the global economy has shifted significantly toward information technology. On the eve of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Market research firm Gartner this week predicted that global IT spending is set to grow 3.1% during 2014.

The firm predicts global IT spending to reach $3.8 trillion by the end of this year, a modest increase over the $3.7 trillion that Gartner estimates was spent in the industry in 2013.

The growth represents a shift from 2013, in which a nearly stagnant 0.4% growth was seen in IT spending. Last year’s spending was hindered by a 1.2% contraction in the devices segment, in which Gartner includes PCs and mobile devices. Tech device manufacturers in the last year have had to contend with heavy competition in increasingly saturated markets, which have driven down prices for smartphones, tablets, and PCs. Last year also saw further cannibalization of the PC market by tablets sales.

Still, device spending is set to grow in 2014, up 4.3% to an estimated $697 billion, according to Gartner.

Most of the growth in the IT market this coming year is predicted by Gartner to come from enterprise software. The segment is forecasted to grow 6.8% to around $320 billion in spending. As companies have come up against the crowded devices market, more of them (HP, Dell, and even Samsung being major examples) have been shifting focus toward enterprise solutions.

“Investment is coming from exploiting analytics to make B2C processes more efficient and improve customer marketing efforts,” said Richard Gordon, managing VP at Gartner. “Investment will also be aligned to B2B analytics, particularly in the SCM space, where annual spending is expected to grow 10.6 percent in 2014. The focus is on enhancing the customer experience throughout the presales, sales and post sales processes.”