Many IT leaders will be entering 2010 with bruises on their budgets from the recessionary battering they have taken over the past 18 months. But this year promises a  cautious return to growth  - for some at least.

Any CIO going into the year simply expecting more of the same may be left behind, according to Martin Atherton, service director at analyst Freeform Dynamics.

"I keep hearing 2010 will be a 'nothing' year. Try telling that to every CIO wanting to deliver the best services they can for the best price possible. In the main, IT leaders will sidestep those trumpeting 'transformation' and take the opportunities they can to push incremental, positive and sustainable changes to what they do and what they do it with," he says.

Nothing that really matters is going to happen in business or the public sector until Gordon Brown (or anyone who has the ambition to usurp him) calls an election. Political common sense suggests Brown will want to wait, put through a March budget that tries to make voters feel a little better, then go for early May.

Business leaders would probably prefer an early ballot to get the uncertainty out of the way. Public sector IT leaders will be happy to wait, because once the election is over, no matter who wins, government IT spending is set to be slashed. Depending on whom you believe, public sector IT budget cuts of anything between 10% and 40% could be on the way.

In spite of the political uncertainty, CIOs will face new challenges and opportunities during 2010.

Technology choices for CIOs in 2010:

 

Predictions for 2010:


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This was first published in January 2010

 

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