The
economic downturn is creating industry uncertainty about the IT
budgets for 2009.
According to soon to be published research carried out by
CIO Connect among its FTSE 250 CIO members, CIOs are divided
over the prospects
for
their budgets in 2009.
A third expect their IT budgets to rise,
a third believe their budget will fall, and a third think
budgets will stay the same next year.
Kevin White, content director at CIO Connect, the findings
reflect the current economic outlook. "If there is one thing
certain it is that it will be uncertain for a while," he added.
But he said the results are more positive than other recent
surveys which, he claimed, have painted a
negative picture of IT spending over the coming year.
"The third-third-third split is rather more positive than
previous data released over the last week or two," he said.
Justin Speake, CEO at analyst
Bloor Research, said
he is not seeing any major cuts to budgets.
"There are a few major projects that might be slowed down, but
apart from the finance sector which is being a bit tighter there is
not much change from last year," he said.
But he added that IT departments have to work much harder to get
approval for projects in the current climate.