FINDING 1
IT Spending Growth Slows

The 1.7 percent average increase in IT budgets masks large variances and surprising resiliency. Large companies are reining in spending this year partially due to concern about a recession, and some are making large enough cuts to affect overall spending percentages.

But despite dour economic news, respondents expect their company’s revenues and profits to grow in 2008, as they did last year. So companies below $100 million in yearly revenue are increasing spending by nearly 15 percent, and spending at companies with annual revenues of $100 million to $999 million is climbing by 7 percent.

Whether it’s due to optimism or the reality that IT is too pervasive or critical to be easily cut, caution about IT spending isn’t preventing IT departments from going ahead with important investments. Most IT executives say they expect money will be available to fund new initiatives later this year, even if they work for large companies and regardless of whether or not they are more concerned about IT spending than they were a year ago. And as other findings will show, there are many other indications that IT organizations plan to invest in technology in 2008.