Companies believe that the recession is far from over and spending on IT is expected to be flat in 2010, according to a study by market research and marketing consulting firm Ronin.
According to the study, there has been a little change among companies sentiment on the recession in the past 12 months. 87% of the companies voted that they have been negatively impacted, with 48% saying that they have been strongly or extremely negatively impacted.
Ronin has polled nearly 1,500 companies across twelve countries on how the recession is impacting their companies. The study focused on the IT function in companies and shows that they too are as affected negatively by the economic climate as was the case during 2009. This shows that the external spending on computers, software and related services will be flat compared with 2009.
The firm said that there is a significant bifurcation between companies which are taking short-term actions concentrating on cost cutting and leaving strategic aspects until they emerge from the recession, and companies that are taking advantage of the recession to re-think their business models and develop strategies which will allow them to emerge stronger.
Ronin said that the later section of companies have embraced technology more and are implementing initiatives to expand the systems and infrastructure to help them emerge with competitive advantage over the others.
The study also revealed that there will be a recessional re-alignment, behaviors post-recession will be different rather than reverting to the pre-recession approaches.
Harry Bunn, president and CEO of Ronin, said: The recession is far from over in its impact on companies and IT worldwide and that as these companies emerge they will be behaving differently than in the pre-recession environment.
