IT Buyers Are In Catbird Seat At Gartner Symposium

IT buyers are in the catbird seat and should press vendors hard, said Gartner CEO Michael Fleisher in his opening address to 5,000 IT executives here at the annual gathering of the technology elite at the Gartner Symposium ITxpo.

"This is, quite simply, the best market ever for technology buyers," said Fleisher. Never before has there been a better time to "lock in great new" pricing and terms and conditions from "extremely anxious" vendors, said Fleisher.

"Take advantage of the buyer's market," he urged IT executives. "Make aggressive moves to lock in pricing, because [the opportunity won't be there in 12 to 18 months."

Fleisher told IT executives that their company's success or failure will depend on how they respond to the current sluggish IT spending environment.

Fleisher also warned IT executives not to expect a turnaround in 2003. The IT industry still has significant overcapacity, and there is no killer application on the horizon, Fleisher said.

"While we can point to a few bright spots, there is essentially no chance for a tech recovery in 2003," said Fleisher.

Fleisher's grim assessment came as Gartner predicted that worldwide IT spending will climb slightly in 2002, with revenue totaling $2.3 trillion, a 3.4 percent increase from 2001, according to Gartner Dataquest.

Gartner doesn't expect to see anything beyond normal seasonality in IT spending before the second half of 2003. When spending does start to increase, Gartner expects it will begin with what it called shorter-term, less strategic products such as PCs and low-end servers and infrastructure software.

Fleisher predicted that 50 percent of all technology brand names will disappear by 2004.

The IT industry has become a mature industry with normal business cycles, Fleisher said. "The technology industry must change and accept that," he said.