IT pros tackle economic crisis head-on

The financial crisis facing many companies today was front and center at SIMposium 2008, where IT leaders gathered to share insight on how high-tech executives can use their experience to help businesses weather the current economic storm.

The Society for Information Management (SIM) annual conference held this week in Orlando welcomed more than 600 attendees to learn about technology trends and business strategies facing IT professionals for 2009. The industry organization shared results of a June survey of 300 member organizations, which to date has revealed IT professionals saw the economic downturn coming and have been preparing to cut the fat and operate more efficiently.

Still the talk of an imminent recession doesn't instill the same panic many IT professionals experienced in past downturns, SIM officials said.

"This downturn is different. In the past, IT has been told by the business to cut, cut, cut and both IT and the business have paid dearly for that," said Jerry Luftman, SIM vice president for academic affairs and distinguished professor and associate dean at the Stevens Institute. "Rather than panicking and making drastic cuts, IT has been working more closely with the business for years and is being strategic about how to weather the economic issues now."

SIM survey results also showed that among IT's strategic plans for 2009, cutting IT costs landed "dead last" among 40 options for respondents' expected actions in 2009. Granted, Luftman said, the survey was taken a few months prior to the failure of several financial firms and the chaos on Wall Street, but IT has been operating more efficiently for the past several years and cutting isn't the most practical option for many.

"IT can think about how it can cut in terms of variable costs, but there aren't as many obvious areas to cut," Luftman said.

IT's efforts this past decade to integrate itself into the business is part of the reason IT isn't the first and obvious place to slash costs, according to one presenter at the show. Chandra Olson, enterprise architect for Lockheed Martin, hosted a session on innovative technologies and said while news about the economy remains negative, IT has positioned itself as an enabler to business.

"The economy is grim, but unlike 2001 IT is embedded in running all aspects of the business," she told attendees. "We do multi-year projects and that makes it more difficult to cut. IT lags about two to four quarters behind the overall economy but the slashing of the past is over."

Others attending the show commented informally on how they are dealing with the economic crisis facing their companies today. Many IT professionals are considering alternative approaches to straight budget cuts. For instance, several plan to halt hiring and cut back on consultants. Others say they will stretch planned 2009 projects over two years to lessen the budget impact. And while budgets may remain flat, the general attitude among attendees had not yet reached a panicked state.

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