Global information technology spending is now likely to increase 3 percent from a year ago thanks in part to cloud services, Gartner Inc. said Monday.

The technology research company previously predicted a 2.5 percent rise in the spending.

Worldwide IT spending is on track to hit $3.6 trillion this year, up from $3.5 trillion in 2011, according to Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner.

Enterprise spending on public cloud services is projected to climb from $109 billion in 2012 to $207 billion by 2016. It totaled $91 billion last year.

Cloud computing is a concept referring to software delivered over the Internet, rather than licensed and installed on individual computers in company offices.