Managed Services - Channel Insider
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Managed Services: IT Budgeting and Priorities: What Your Customers Are Thinking


The uncertainty in the market may be tough for those in the channel, but if a new survey of CIOs and executive IT leaders conducted by the Society for Information Management (SIM) is to be believed, spending will largely hold steady or even increase in 2010. The survey questioned SIM members about their 2009 and 2010 budget priorities and offers those selling into the enterprise a critical look into CIO priorities in the next 12 months. Channel Insider takes a deeper look at the findings.
 
  • The uncertainty in the market may be tough for those in the channel, but if a new survey of CIOs and executive IT leaders conducted by the Society for Information Management (SIM) is to be believed, spending will largely hold steady or even increase in 2010.
  • Year of Cuts
    Unsurprisingly, IT dollars dwindled in 2009. Approximately 52% of respondents reported their IT budgets were down this year. About 25% reported increases, though, and 23% said they held the line.
  • Stabilization for 2010
    Many more expect budget stasis in 2010, with 45% predicting their budgets will remain the same. An optimistic 27% believe their budgets will increase in 2010. And 28% believe their dollars will shrink.
  • Keeping Things Running
    CIOs estimate that in 2010 69% of their allocated funds will be spent on running existing systems, while 31% will be spent on building and buying new systems. These ratios remain largely the same compared to this year.
  • Outsourcing on the Rise
    Service providers can expect to dip into a larger share of IT dollars in 2010. This year most IT departments spent 8% of their budgets on domestic outsourcing and 4% on offshore outsourcing. In 2010 they’re expected to bump up to 9% for domestic and 6% for offshore.
  • Slight Slide in Consulting
    However, these outsourcing dollars may come slightly at the expense of consulting spend, which will drop from an average of 12% of IT budgets in 2009 to 11% of budgets in 2010.
  • Need to Become More Strategic
    The majority of CIOs (58%) reported that the IT budget makes up about 3% or less of all corporate revenue.
  • Top Spending Priorities
    1. Business intelligence
    2. Server virtualization
    3. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems
    4. Customer and corporate portals
    5. Enterprise application integration and management
    6. Continuity planning and disaster management
  • Top Concerns
    The top 10 IT-related priorities that gave CIOs cause for concern are:
    1. Business productivity and cost reduction
    2. IT and business alignment
    3. Business agility and speed to market
    4. Business process re-engineering
    5. IT cost reduction
    6. IT reliability and efficiency
    7. IT strategic planning
    8. Revenue generating IT innovations
    9. Security and privacy
    10. CIO leadership role