Economic downturn doesn't worry IT

gallery

Three-quarters of IT heads believe the sector is strong enough to outlast any economic downturn, without taking a hit to spending or hiring, according to a new study.

The survey, by storage firm B2Net, showed that just two per cent of the 100 respondents had cut operating expenditure in the face of a looming recession. This was partially because many believe such a downturn isn't set to happen in the near future, if at all.

Jason Clark, B2net's managing director, said: "On the one hand it's heartening that despite the squeeze on consumer spending, the business environment is feeling less threatened. But just because 76 per cent of IT decision makers consider they are in good shape to handle a downturn, it doesn't mean that they are actually prepared and that's worrying."

Over three-quarters (78 per cent) said they didn't see any areas where they could make significant cuts or find efficiencies. Just eight per cent said storage was one area they could cut costs, followed by information security and the data centre at seven per cent.

But even if cutting costs became necessary, two-thirds (64 per cent) of respondents believed that service and product quality would not be negatively effected.

"This level of business optimism is refreshing, but equally, there's a fine line between shoring up defences intelligently to achieve optimum cost efficiencies and burying our heads in the sand," Clark said.

"Considering it was only eight years ago that the UK industry experienced the devastating consequences of the dot com crash, we need to be ready should history repeat itself," he said.

Email to a friend

Print this page