Quelle: CIO, USA

This much is true: Companies have slammed the brakes on IT spending inthe past year and a half - a fallout from the recession, 9/11 and astock market suffering from an onslaught of questionable accountingmethods, outright fraud and jittery investors.

The technology engorgement that commenced in the late 1990s has sosatiated companies that requests by CIOs for even a few crumbs - a newJava programmer, a desktop upgrade - now get as much scrutiny as arequest to fly first-class to the Cleveland office. "I don't thinkthere will ever be a return to what happened - the perfect storm ofY2K, ERPERP and the Internet," says Paul Hoogenboom, vice president ofoperations and CIO at Medina, Ohio-based RPM, the maker of Rust-Oleumand other specialty coatings. Alles zu ERP auf CIO.de

But there may be some light peeking out from under the dreary haze:According to "IT Planning for the Economic Recovery," a recent CIOResearch survey of 251 IT executives, nearly 60 percent of technologyexecutives see IT spending picking up either this year or by the firsthalf of 2003. And 18 percent said their spending never slowed down(see complete survey results at www2.cio.com/research).

Investing wisely in technology now can help grow the business and giveyou a jump on the competition still ensconced in their foxholes. Factis, it's still a buyer's economy out there - vendors are practicallytrampling over each other to earn or maintain your business. Tosweeten the pot, they're offering deep discounts on hardware andsoftware, performance-based contracts, and flexible pricing plans.Taking advantage of this reversal of fortune between buyer and seller,plus continuing to invest in technologies that can help you get closerto your partners and customers, may be just the cure for yourrecessionary ills.