Enterprise Spending Looking Up

Mirroring the overall economic uptick, the percentage of enterprises (those with at least 1,000 employees) that plan to boost technology budgets this year stands at 68 percent, the highest point in the past two years. Security and VoIP technologies have the strongest momentum going into 2004. The level of spending priority (or the relative importance of spending) for both categories has risen in each of the past four quarters, in contrast with the other 17 categories CRN surveys.

On a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 means the category is a high spending priority and 1 is a low spending priority, VoIP rose to 3.45 in December 2003 from 2.47 in December 2002, an increase of nearly 40 percent. Security jumped to 4.27 from 3.86 during the same period, an 11 percent gain from an already high figure.

Within the security sector, intrusion-detection appliances could be a particularly lucrative opportunity. Research firm IDC expects corporate spending for intrusion detection to stay strong in 2004, after posting an 89 percent growth rate in the past year. Total-cost-of-ownership advantages and an abundance of products are fueling this optimism.

For solution providers, VoIP offers the best of all worlds,it promises to dramatically reduce communications costs for businesses without sacrificing quality and reliability at a time when more companies are thinking about upgrading outdated systems to gain a competitive edge. Meanwhile, fierce competition among suppliers will ensure that solution providers have a wide and growing range of services to offer.

What are your enterprise expectations? Let me know via phone at (732) 919-1530 or e-mail at [email protected].