Manufacturers delay IT infrastructure upgrades in downturn

NCC’s online Evaluation Centre found 23% of respondents saying they are postponing hardware upgrades while an equal number are putting on hold software refreshes. The finding flies in the face of the latest forecast by international market research institute EITO, which suggests that IT turnover in Western Europe is set to grow by 2% next year – although the organisation does indicate strongest growth in software and IT services, with hardware companies predicted to go into loss making mode. According to Steve Fox, Evaluation Centre managing director, 30% of companies interviewed are delaying upgrading their IT infrastructure. He also points out that options available for deploying infrastructure are more varied, making it difficult for firms to decide the optimum choice. Software as a Service (SaaS), he says, is growing in popularity, with 30% of companies seeing it as very important (16%) or important (14%). Equally, cloud computing, while still new, gets the votes from 11% of companies, who see it as very important and 11% as important to their future infrastructure. “Any projects that are viewed as non-essential or only affecting the back office are coming under increased scrutiny. This will force companies to look more seriously at alternative delivery infrastructures such as SaaS and Cloud computing,” says Fox. He also points to virtualisation technology – noting that the survey suggest 42% of organisations have already implemented server virtualisation and a further 28% are at the planning stage, while desktop virtualisation is the next area, with 7% having implemented the technology across the whole organisation and 14% in some parts. Meanwhile, EITO chairman Bruno Lamborghini says: “IT expenditure will continue to grow even in an economic recession. “IT is of strategic importance for companies in a crisis situation, because it makes operations more efficient and more economic.”