Credit Crunch Hits The Channel

The firm lowered its 2009 global IT spending forecast to 2.3 percent, down from an earlier projection of 5.8 percent, according to Peter Sondergaard, senior vice president at Gartner and global head of research.

"Developed economies, especially the United States and Western Europe, will be the worst affected, but emerging regions will not be immune. Europe will experience negative growth in 2009, the United States and Japan will be flat," Sondergaard said in a statement.

Gartner blamed global economic problems as the culprit for its lower outlook, but it does not expect to see the dramatic reductions experienced during the dot-com burst, according to Sondergaard.

"We learned that in tumultuous times, CEOs want their executives and managers to be advisers and counselors, not just great implementers of directions given to them," Sondergaard said in the statement. "What they want now most of all is agile leadership, leadership that can guide us through simultaneous cost control and expansion at the same time."

Organizations now view IT as a way to transform their businesses and adopt operating models that are much leaner, according to Gartner. It's a model that solution providers have espoused for several years.

"That's the business we operate in, a business consultancy that provides benefits to customers through technology," said Rob Betzel, president of Infinity Network Solutions Inc., a Macon, Ga.-based solution provider. "Customers look to reduce costs or expand services through IT. They're asking, 'How can we do that? How do we get the most bang for our buck today?' "

Gartner also found that IT is more embedded in running all aspects of businesses, which protects it from drastic reductions in expenditures.

Betzel said his customers are talking about their 2009 IT budgets and are moving IT expenditures out of capital and into operating budgets, especially in the small- and midsize-business market.

"We're still seeing a significant amount of business. They're not totally putting the brakes on, but people are more diligent in considering before they move," he said.

Regionally, Gartner now expects 2009 IT spending to decline 0.8 percent in Western Europe, according to Reuters. The firm had previously forecast spending to grow 2.8 percent in the region.

Gartner expects spending will rise 0.5 percent in North America, a sharp decline from its previous forecast of 5.3 percent growth, according to Reuters. Finally, the firm expects a spending increase of 8.3 percent in the Asia Pacific area, down from a forecast of 11 percent growth.
--Scott Campbell