Spending on information technology worldwide will reach $3.7 trillion this year, with the largest growth expected in spending on enterprise software. That is the prediction of research firm Gartner, which says organizations will increase spending on IT by approximately 4.5 percent in 2018. Enterprise software spending is the bright spot in Gartner's latest study, which predicts 9.5 percent growth in purchases for these applications in 2018, with another 8.4 percent growth in 2019, and will total $421 billion. "Global IT spending growth began to turn around in 2017, with continued growth expected over the next few years. However, uncertainty looms as organizations consider the potential impacts of Brexit, currency fluctuations and a possible global recession," said Gartner Research Vice President John-David Lovelock.

When it comes to raising tens of millions of dollars in venture capital, it helps to be a veteran of Baidu's artificial intelligence units. Over the prior 12 months, former employees of the Chinese tech giant have raised close to US$300 million in VC funding rounds, according to a review of deals by China Money Network. The latest recipient of VC funding is Aibee, an artificial intelligence solutions provider founded by Lin Yunqing, former head of Baidu Inc's Institution of Deep Learning (IDL), which today announced a RMB165 million (US$25 million) angel round led by China's venture capital firm Kinzon Capital. Alibee was established in last November, after Lin resigned from the tech giant Baidu in October. It focuses on developing AI solutions in areas such as computer vision, speech recognition, natural language understanding and big data analytics.

PREDICTIVE DATA: Degree Analytics, a startup that aims to use data and AI to increase college students' graduation rates, has raised $1 million in a "Seed B" round. The Austin-based company's investors include Rick Dalzell, formerly CIO at Amazon; David Palumbo, managing director at SoftMatch; and Larry Benz, founder of physical therapy group Confluent Health. Degree Analytics gathers student information such as attendance, library time or LMS login activity, and uses that data to make predictions on students' future behaviors. It will flag school counselors or instructors if they should intervene with a student. The company claims its platform is currently being used at three institutions, including Eastern University, and that the latest funding round will go towards further developing its platform and expanding both its "domestic and international presence."

The chipmaker, which recorded a $5.4 billion charge in the quarter due to the recent tax reforms, has been focusing on its data center business and newer areas such as artificial intelligence and driverless cars to reduce its reliance on its traditional PC market.

Above the Trend Line: your industry rumor central is a recurring feature of insideBIGDATA. In this column, we present a variety of short time-critical news items grouped by category such as people movements, funding news, financial results, industry alignments, rumors and general scuttlebutt floating around the big data, data science and machine learning industries including behind-the-scenes anecdotes and curious buzz. Our intent is to provide you a one-stop source of late-breaking news to help you keep abreast of this fast-paced ecosystem. We're working hard on your behalf with our extensive vendor network to give you all the latest happenings. Be sure to Tweet Above the Trend Line articles using the hashtag: #abovethetrendline.

Gartner's latest IT spending forecast has predicted a massive boost in IT spending on enterprise software. The analyst forecast that enterprise software will continue to show strong growth, with worldwide software spending increasing by 9.5% in 2018 and by 8.4% in 2019 to reach a total of $421bn. The current potential of the UK technology industry is restricted by the lack of tech and digital talent available. You forgot to provide an Email Address. This email address doesn't appear to be valid.

Akeneo, a French e-commerce company, said Thursday it has acquired Sigmento, an Israeli startup that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to help online vendors better describe their products. "This was a technology-based acquisition," said Fred de Gombert, co-founder and CEO of Akeneo in a phone interview. The brand that will succeed in the future will be the one "that masters the product experience," he said, by describing the product successfully for every kind of search and on every platform including social media, virtual marketplaces, and voice assistants. Get The Start-Up Israel's Daily Start-Up by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up "Sigmento was able to demonstrate success in this area on a large scale," said de Gombert. "For us, this was a critical consideration. Sigmento's technology is one of the most sophisticated we have seen."

Rokid, a Chinese startup that makes an AI voice assistant and smart devices, just raised a Series B extension round led by Temasek Holdings, with participation from Credit Suisse, IDG Capital and CDIB Capital. The size of the round was not released, but a source familiar with the deal told TechCrunch that it is $100 million. The company's previous funding was its Series B round, which was announced in November 2016. Founder and chief executive officer Mingming Zhu says Rokid raised a Series B instead of a C round because the company, which is based in Hangzhou, China with research centers in Beijing and San Francisco that develop its proprietary natural language processing, image processing, face recognition and robotics technology, is still in its early stages. Rokid wants to focus on gathering more resources and bringing in strategic investors like Temasek Holdings before moving on to a Series C.

SaaS had a major impact on the way companies consume cloud services. This ebook looks at how the as a service trend is spreading and transforming IT jobs. IBM said its as-a-service annual run rate is $10.3 billion exiting the fourth quarter, which was better than expected on earnings and revenue. Big Blue reported a solid quarter relative to expectations and showed growth in its "strategic imperatives" revenue, which includes analytics, cloud and newer businesses. The company reported non-GAAP fourth quarter earnings of $5.18 a share on revenue of $22.5 billion, up 4 percent from a year ago.

Global IT spending growth began to turnaround in 2017 with annual increases expected through 2021. However, uncertainty looms as organizations consider potential impacts of Brexit, currency fluctuations, and a possible global recession. Despite uncertainty, businesses will continue to invest in IT as they anticipate revenue growth, but their spending patterns will shift. Projects in digital business, blockchain, IoT, and progress from algorithms to machine learning through artificial intelligence (AI) will continue unabated. In this webinar, Gartner will walk through four different headlines that will emerge in 2018 as massive changes to the status quo.