CIOs have had their IT budgets cut by as much as 10%, as
businesses continue to lower costs to combat the recession.
Analyst firm Gartner conducted a survey of 900 CIOs between 1
March and 30 April 2009 to gauge the potential impact of
macroeconomic concerns on IT budgets.
CIOs in healthcare-related industries reported an average budget
increase of 2.2%, but CIOs in all other major industries reported a
decline in the first quarter of 2009. The largest declines were in
professional services, telecommunications and high tech (-10%),
followed by manufacturing (-8%), utilities (-4%) and financial
services (-4%).
Dave Aron, vice-president at Gartner, said CIOs were looking to
cut costs, but they were not planning to outsource more to achieve
this. "CIOs are not looking at outsourcing to solve budget
problems. The dominant strategy among CIOs is to change the
workforce and renegotiate contracts," he said.
Aron said CIOs were increasingly looking to increase the amount
of strategic IT work they ran in-house. "They are prioritising the
IT portfolios to ensure they focus their IT investments more
closely and are planning to make cuts that do not damage essential
business capabilities."
Last week the analyst firm urged CIOs to
prepare a budget by 1 July to prepare their business for a
recovery.