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This is certainly the case in the IT arena where recent research by Freeform Dynamics indicates that nearly 80 percent of IT professionals are expecting a change in planned investments. (See chart 1 below.)
However, although there are almost certain to be reductions in IT spending in the coming months there is no need for widespread alarm--rather, organizations are taking sensible precautions when it comes to capital expenditure. We can even expect new investment in certain IT projects--and new ways of financing them.
Chart 1: Major geographies and organization sizes show a consistent expectation of IT investment impacts.
This sensible approach to IT spending is a marked contrast to the early years of this decade when the last downturn took hold. At that time many businesses reacted negatively to almost all IT investment plans, following the spending extravaganzas of the dot-com boom.
Today, research seems to show that IT departments are taking time evaluating just what projects should proceed and which ones can be put on hold until market opportunities improve.
Freeform Dynamics believes IT departments are in a much better position to handle budget adjustments objectively than during the former downturn, as many now have in place at least some degree of governance process for assessing the business impact of new investments.
Furthermore, at the beginning of the decade if a line or business manager was asked how reliant daily operations were on IT systems, an answer of 'very' or 'highly dependent' would be delivered only after considerable thought.
By contrast today everyone recognizes just how difficult, if not downright impossible business life becomes when IT systems are not operating effectively. In fact these days when IT system delivery is interrupted it quickly escalates right to the top of the company.
The acceptance of the profound dependence of business functions on IT systems is likely to ensure that IT budgets do not shoulder a disproportion burden compared to the rest of the organization when it comes to spending adjustments.
Freeform Dynamics research lends some credence to this view. Among organizations that are expecting reductions in IT spending plans, fewer than one in five are predicting that such impacts will be significant. The majority anticipate 'general belt tightening' or 'carefully targeted reductions'. (See chart 2 below.)
Chart 2: The majority of those who are expecting a hit anticipate being able to contain the impact on IT through selective cutbacks and/or general belt-tightening.
So while some organizations will seek to take any sensible opportunity to trim costs, others will look to better optimize the way they use IT.
Some of the resulting actions may well require investment in the supporting IT infrastructure if full benefits are to be achieved.
Because of this it is likely that virtualization and management projects to enhance IT resource usage efficiency will continue to be undertaken amidst the downturn. There is also a chance that desktop refresh initiatives may make it onto the agenda, as a way of reducing the high costs and burden of managing old hardware--although as justification of such projects are likely to be complex, these may not happen in the first wave.
Projects to advance communications and workforce efficiency could see well-qualified tactical investments deliver substantial business benefits over the course of the coming year too.
So where will this investment come from?
The restricted availability of capital in today's financial markets is certain to encourage investigation into alternate sources of IT financing. Despite the ongoing credit crunch, the financing arms of larger IT vendors are generally in pretty good standing. Freeform's exchanges with the usual suspects--including Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Microsoft--recently substantiate the fact that they are in a good position to help creditworthy customers in a variety of ways.
Organizations could have the opportunity to fund potential IT investments using financial services provided by one of the major IT vendors, their channel partners or IT financing specialist such as Smartfundit.com, instead of being entirely dependent on their own cash reserves.
These pools of specialist IT finance can provide traditional offerings such as leasing or even full blown project financing, covering all of the necessary hardware, systems software, applications and services.
The use of IT financing has been growing slowly over recent years but as the traditional sources of capital dry up, there is a massive opportunity for flexible IT financial solutions to have a major impact implementing value-generating IT projects.
-----------------------------BY Tony Lock, Special to ZDNet Asia
Source：ZDNet Asia
Copyright © 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.
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