A number of IT budgets took swan dives in 2001 and 2002, intandem with a drop in corporate revenue andincome - according to our survey, 43 percent of companies sawtheir 2002 IT budget decline. Consumer product companieswere hit particularly hard. Aydin Onur is vice president ofe-business at Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Philips Components (adivision of Philips Electronics), which manufacturescomponents for the OEM market as well as for consumerelectronics, such as cell phones. Onur watched his actualspending in 2001 drop a precipitous 42 percent from what wasbudgeted at the beginning of the year. For 2002, hisspending will decline 25 percent from 2001. "The recessionhad a big effect on all the market segments we play in," hesays. Some projects were terminated and some staff was letgo. And a number of projects were put on hold, including aproduct data management system, an ERP consolidation programand a CRMCRM system. Alles zu CRM auf CIO.de

However, for all the harsh numbers and gloomy macroeconomic realitythat ushered in 2002, a good chunk of companies increased their ITbudget this year. For instance, at Ryder System, the recession hadlittle effect on IT spending because senior management believes thatIT is critical to staying competitive and serving its customers. "Inreality, we didn't take a hit or go below a certain budget line," saysEduardo Vital, executive vice president of IT services and CIO of theMiami-based global transportation and logistics company. In fact, theIT budget for 2002 at Ryder rose about 12 percent over 2001, anincrease similar to those in the previous four or fiveyears.