European Resellers "IT budget outlook: Q2 looking healthy" Tong

Research evidence excerpt

European Resellers "IT budget outlook: Q2 looking healthy" Tong

Global Research

14 July 2026ab

European Resellers Equities

Europe including UKIT budget outlook: Q2 looking healthy

Software

Christopher Tong

Summary thoughts Analyst

We hosted Michael Scampini (CEO and Founder) of The Global Channel Group for a christopher.tong@ubs.com

discussion on trends in IT budgets across hardware and software. Topics of discussion +44-20-7568 7747

included broader shift from hardware to software within IT budgets (customer cohorts Michael Briest

were skewed SMB/mid-market), growth rates within different products and regions, Analyst

development of incentives, AI adoption and more. michael.briest@ubs.com

+44-20-7568 8367

Key points Jarrod Chisholm

Our guest observed that Q2 IT budgets were healthy, with the US growing in the Analyst

mid 20s, UK in the mid teens, but Germany in the MSD. He said that there jarrod.chisholm@ubs.com

+44-73-0852 0351

continues to be hesitancy among German SMB given slower AI adoption relative

to US and UK. We think the expert's view on IT budgets are skewed to Software

Infra space hence the materially higher growth than the typical mid-high single

digit IT budget growth. However, we note that the expert's UK IT budget outlook

for mid teens growth is broadly consistent with UBS Evidence Lab respondents

expecting UK SMB IT spend up 12% (from 7% last year) given a rebound in spend

post higher National Insurance expenses.

Michael emphasized that software is increasingly taking up an increasing

proportion of IT budgets (he estimates that his customers are spending ⅔ of

budgets on software), a trend he has been seeing for a while. The increased costs

of hardware (given higher memory costs) and AI was driving an accelerated shift to

the cloud.