IT Investment Boosts Business-Services SectorIT Investment Boosts Business-Services Sector

Hardware Focus
Which technologies and products are on your IT organization's planned projects list?

Business-services companies typically spend 17% of their IT budgets on software applications and 13% on hardware purchases, according to information Research's Priorities 4Q 2002 data. Spending on hardware by these companies should be strong next year: At the top of their planned-project lists are buying PCs and Windows servers. Web development, remote access, and network-security management are just some areas of software concentration.

Future Expectations
How will your total 2003 IT spending compare with this year's?

What will happen to the business-services companies that don't increase IT spending next year? Few of the 159 business-technology professionals knowledgeable about their companies' 2003 budget plans expect further belt-tightening. Fewer than 20% say that their companies' 2003 IT budgets will be less than their 2002 budgets. A third report that IT spending will remain unchanged. But it's early for 2003 budgets. What's on IT ledgers today won't necessarily be there four to seven months from now.

Industry View
When considering your industry's economic condition, what's your outlook?

It's impossible to predict when or whether business conditions will rebound in 2003. Regardless, most business-services workers remain positive about their industry's prospects. How much of this is wishful thinking is difficult to say, but not all employees in the business-services sector are as optimistic. About two in five business-technology professionals interviewed have reservations about the industry's future. Only one-third of workers say they're impartial on this subject.