It’s been a cold and dreary summer in the Northeast, but the last two weeks have finally brought a real summer. And that, among other signs, has got me thinking positively about the future of the economy and what enterprises should be thinking about as budget season for 2010 starts in the next few months.
Though it is true that the buds of an economic increase have not yet bloomed, there are some heartening signs that things may be getting better. Unemployment, though not decreasing, isn’t rising as fast anymore, there has been a stock market rally bringing the Dow Jones up 3000 points since November 2008 to over 9000 and some of the laid-off people you know have actually found jobs. All of this is good.
But there is no doubt that as IT budgets are created for FY 2010, there is going to be a cut even from the 2009 budget, which declined somewhere between 5-10% from 2008. However even with that cut, we have seen enterprises still continuing to invest in IT–less strategic but more tactical. Technology investments have been more about keeping a level-set environment versus introducing new projects. In past downturns, companies that have invested versus just cutting ended up faring better once the recovery happened.
So now is the time to start thinking more strategic, more mid-term investing versus short-term cost control. Though a recovery may not begin before year end 2010 or later, having a plan will help you move faster when it’s here–and one day, it will be.
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