Firms will need to decide IT strategy, group claims

Written by James Gardiner

Businesses should exercise caution when considering reducing their IT budgets, it has been suggested, which may interest those considering IT outsourcing.

Mike Dean, a spokesperson for the National Computing Centre, said that many IT purchasers have been forced to delay or stop spending on projects because of the ongoing economic crisis, but reminded them that this cannot be pursued in the long run.

"Whilst this will help cashflow and short-term profit and loss reporting, purchasers will be forced to bite the bullet at some stage," he added.

In addition, Mr Dean said that firms will soon need to begin making strategic decisions about their IT operations, such as whether to continue using their existing applications or move to innovations like cloud computing.

The representative also said that part of this planning could see businesses considering shifting some of their key activities over to IT outsourcing providers.

A recent report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development claimed that the IT industry could have entered a period of recovery.