Spend will happen with the right offering!

SMEs will experience exceptional growth over the next 18 months if they focus on cost-reduction and performance enhancement projects for their IT systems.

The report from Computer Weekly that only three in ten UK SMEs expect to fail during the course of 2009 can be seen in the rest of Europe too. The new breed of ‘super SME’, which built the company around people and technology, has put them in an extraordinary position to be agile in the current economic climate.

People working with SMEs know expectations demanded of them and are more likely to provide the ongoing support to a business as it prepares to fight larger competitors by further streamlining existing systems and paving the way to utilise innovative technologies.

It’s all spend spend spend – well budgets! Two-thirds of SMEs, as reported, are expecting to see a reduction in financial turnover in the next six months. Drastic cuts are expected in budgets for next year but at the same time there is the need to maintain competitive edge especially when markets pickup at the end of next year.

Reducing the cost of delivery, managing the usage of software/software tools more efficiently and redeploying software by ensuring licenses are not wasted or putting companies in tricky situations with patents can provide better value to run the essentials.

CIOs are still planning to invest despite tight budgets but seeking better model to control these costs. It’s no longer about fancy new projects as Silicon reports, but squeezing the most out of these budgets and making sure these projects pay back quickly – there should be the top priorities for any CIO in the next year.

IT spending growth in the US is only expected to reach 1.6% in 2009, in Europe it will be a totally different story as the pound struggles to cope with the Euro and the EU begins executing a strategy to integrate Eastern Europe to harvest growth during these challenging times.

On top of this is businesses needs to be socially responsible, the green agenda is still strong and all IT needs to be environmentally friendly. According to a survey by Storage Expo 510 70% of respondents believed green IT was still a priority. Just fewer than 5% stated it would be a priority regardless of the cost and savings.

Today it’s no longer about being the geeky IT specialist its about being straight-talking, clear, concise and working for the benefit of the business and not to build innovation reputation. The IT industry will move away from being an influencer to become a service provider with fixed costs and known monthly outlays to a company.

Keith Rock
Sales Director, Continental Europe & Africa