I have been checking on what market research companies are predicting for 2009. Their forecasts are not that bad for the IT industry. Gartner had predicted IT budgets to grow with 3.3% in 2009. Now, they claim the most likely case is growth between 0 and 2.3% and worst case a negative growth of 2.5%. We need to be careful, that is for sure.

Why is that? Obvisously, these days IT has become essential for the day-to-day functioning of companies and organisations. It is at the core of every business. Moreover, efficiency and effectiveness improvements that many companies and organisations are implementing, are relying precisely on IT systems. So, there is a limit to what the leaders of such organisations are willing to cut but ROI needs to be there!

I am a believer of “managing against the cycle”, trying rather to benefit from downturns and to look at downturns as an opportunity. Not easy. For example, I expect the talent shortage we experienced the last year is going to relax. The job market will be more fluid. I have some thoughts about how to leverage that … We will see what we can do. It is going to be interesting.

C U next week,

Chris