Spending 2003: How Bad is the Bite in Your Budget?

Written By
Allan Alter
Allan Alter
Published: Jan 14, 2003
Updated: May 12, 2021
1 minute read
  • 0.2% less is budgeted for IT spending by companies in 2003
  • 22% cite “reduce operating costs” as the top project priority for 2003
  • 88% of users say collaborative forecasting is effective
  • 22% fewer companies have budgeted for security initiatives in 2003
    This year’s budget numbers are in: IT spending will be down, if slightly, with large companies taking the brunt of the hit. Large-company CIOs responding to our annual spending survey report a 0.5 percent decline in budgeted spending for 2003, while small companies are looking to increase spending by 5 percent. The decrease is leading to lower levels of spending in a variety of technologies and business initiatives.
    Especially hard-hit: infrastructure, emerging technologies, and a number of efforts corporations clearly consider luxuries in tough times—including collaboration, distance learning and marketing automation. The big surprise? The added caution on the part of large companies. Significantly more large-company respondents attribute their cost-cutting to their current financial position than their small-company counterparts, and almost 50 percent more of them cite “reducing operating costs” as the primary motivator of their IT projects in 2003. The numbers suggest they’re in worse financial shape, and the many stakeholders they must answer to, including public shareholders and Wall Street, appear to be forcing them to watch their pennies more carefully.
Allan Alter

Allan Alter

Content Writer

Executive EditorAllan Alter has been a specialist on information technology management, strategy and leadership for many years. Most recently, he was editor-in-chief and the director of new content development for the MIT Sloan Management Review. He has been a columnist and department editor at Computerworld, where he won three awards from the American Society of Business Press Editors. Previously he was a special projects editor, senior editor and senior writer for CIO magazine. Earlier, Alter was an associate editor for Mass High Tech. He has edited two books: The Squandered Computer: Evaluating the Business Alignment of Business Technologies and Redesigning the Firm.

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