The IT Field: If you build it...
It's easy to get shook up about the economy, the dearth of consumer and business demand, wild bucking bronco financial markets, the downgrade of our sovereign debt, the low interest rates and pinched lending; and the low morale in some circles of the economy.
But in the IT republic, it's a different story.
Gartner forecasts that worldwide IT spending will total $3.67 trillion in 2011, with the research group citing a 7.1 percent increase from $3.43 trillion in 2010, according to the latest outlook. Gartner has even adjusted its research guidance based on volatility in the U.S. dollar exchange rate, which favors exporting IT products and services when the dollar is weak and homegrown expansion when the dollar is strong. Either way, dollars are still circulating in the IT resource strategy and planning arena, if these figures are any indication of such a trend. To that end, Gartner slightly raised its outlook for 2011 from its previous forecast of 5.6 percent growth, largely due to U.S. dollar exchange rate fluctuations.
How this dials down to MSP and SMBs is simple: Small or abbreviated budgets call for more expertise, more automated business processes and mission critical data maintenance. If the big boys in the enterprise space worldwide are spending on new technologies, it may be time to separate from the pack of tentative capital expenditure purse stringers and think about building a business.
As Harvard Management professor Robert Kaplan points out in his book, "What to Ask the Person in the Mirror," you find out what you're made of when your business is focused on short-term profits and not building out client bases and solidifying the franchise.
It's food for thought in an IT field of dreams.
Posted by Jabulani Leffall on August 15, 2011