Strategic enterprise networking opportunities

The current state of the economic environment has forced companies to closely evaluate new IT solutions before they are purchased and implemented to ensure that they provide both financial and business benefit. The need for clear and demonstratable ROI is of key importance in light of the current economic restrictions, with IT vendors needing to be able to provide evidence that their solutions will offer significant advantages to their clients.

Almost two-thirds of respondents stated that they would only consider investing in an IT solution that offered a clear ROI, with around 45 per cent of these interviewees strongly agreeing that this criteria would need to be met. With only 17 per cent of respondents feeling that proof of ROI would not be required, the results indicate that this is an area that IT vendors need to ensure that they have covered.

Investment priorites

LAN investment remains key

Although many companies have already invested heavily in their LAN, this remains a key investment priority for European companies, with 29 per cent of respondents citing this as their key area of focus over the next few months. IT security and disaster recovery systems are also seen to be high priority areas, with the events of September 11th having reinforced the need for investment in the latter area in particular. In addition, the much-publicized spate of security breaches over the past 12 months, which include Code Red and Nimda, have forced many companies to re- evaluate their security strategies.