8.6 percent—that’s how much it budgets at mid-market
companies are increasing this year. Where’s
the money going? Not to IT services—outsourcing
budgets are nearly flat. Instead, companies with revenues
between $5 million and $500 million are building
up their own IT capabilities. They’re
boosting their infrastructures even
as they consolidate them, by investing in virtualization
and storage. They’re reducing telecom costs by moving to
Voice over IP. And far more midsize companies are budgeting
for business intelligence than last year, to better utilize customer and
process information. Finally, a 10 percent rise in disaster-recovery spending
underscores the importance of keeping IT systems up and running.
Here’s how smaller firms are allocating their I.T. budgets this year.