IT Budgets Down - but it's not as bad as you might think

A Gartner survey of CIOs shows that budgets in the first quarter of this years are down just under 5% compared to the end of 2008.

In a time of uncertainty, plans are postponed/delayed and the figures are examined more carefully.

Over half of the respondents reported making no changes to their budgets - implying those that did actually averaged about a 10% reduction.

Typically, the actions reported were:

• renegotiating vendor contracts
• salary freezes
• head count reductions
• capex reductions

Only 9% view outsourcing as a way of addressing budget issues.

View the full blog entry:

Mark McDonald — A Member of The Gartner Blog Network: "In the first quarter of 2009, CIOs experienced significant IT budget revisions as executives gained a greater understanding and solidified plans for addressing the global financial crisis, according to a worldwide survey of 900 CIOs by Gartner Executive Programs (EXP)."