IT budgets 'refocused'

14:04 21st August 2008

IT budgets are being refocused as businesses turn to technology to cut costs and streamline processes in difficult economic conditions, industry experts believe.

Tim Newing, IT director of EasyJet, told Computing.com that the current financial climate has affected the firm's development plans, with IT plans "changing in line with new business strategy".

He said: "Instead of concentrating on business growth and innovation, we are now turning our heads to efficiencies and cost cutting."

In addition, the latest UK business confidence monitor found that IT decision makers expect prices to rise by 1.8 per cent over the next 12 months.

Recent research from Gartner predicted IT spending will increase by eight per cent to £1.7 billion in 2008, spurred on by the falling US dollar, technology shifts and obsolete system replacements.

Earlier this month, three leading IT companies joined forces to create a cloud computing initiative, which opens companies' infrastructures to third parties to run application services for free.

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