IT budget crunch

Technology vendors could shortly find themselves up against it, with IT budget growth expected to slow in 2009. This is according to a survey from market analysis firm Datamonitor, which says the majority of global enterprises are planning to cut back on IT spending.

Daniel Okubo, technology analyst at Datamonitor, says vendors should be wary in assuming that the recent downturn in IT budgets is only a short-lived phenomenon. ‘For the past couple of years, enterprises have been cutting back IT budget increases as they adopt a more cautious viewpoint of the global economy.’

While figures from the survey do not show signs of an overall decrease in IT expenditure, they do reveal a slowing in the increase of IT expenditure compared with previous years.

Of the 8,000 global IT ‘decision-makers’ who responded to the survey, only 37 per cent said that they were expecting to see their IT budget increase in 2009. Half stated that they expect to their budget to stay the same in 2009.

The exception, however, was the healthcare sector, where a significant number of decision-makers are planning increases in IT spending. The majority of healthcare industry respondents (57 per cent) said they plan to expand their IT expenditure in 2009.

 Okubo adds that vendors who understand the nuances in domestic economies will be best positioned to exploit any growth opportunities.