Budgets are tight, but IT directors and CIOs must prepare for
business growth in 2010, according to analyst Gartner.
Jeff Mann, Gartner research director, who is chairing the
Gartner Cannes Symposium next month, said that after a year of
slashing costs, CIOs are now beginning to spend money on IT
projects.
"CIOs have used virtualisation and cloud computing to drive down
costs. They are now looking at how to make their businesses more
agile," he said.
Mann said IT directors would exploit the savings over the past
12 months to invest in new projects. But he expected IT budgets to
remain flat next year, which means IT departments need to reassess
their IT systems and strategies. "CIOs must look at the assumptions
they make on storage growth and whether they need to upgrade
software."
CIOs were now speaking to Gartner about contract renegotiations,
he said. "The big outsourcing contracts have been implemented. Now
CIOs are looking at reviewing contracts, how to renegotiate and
benchmarking."