US CIOs still cautious

By Steve Malone

Posted on 10 Mar 2003 at 16:54

US IT Managers still expect budgets to grow a little this year, although less than they said six months ago. Spending is also concentrated on justifying current spending.

These are the results of IT market analysts Aberdeen Inc's six monthly survey into trends among 150 CIOs in the US.

The good news is that budgets are expected to go up by an average of 2.7 per cent compared with an actual 0.9 per cent in 2002. However, last September, this same group forecast 2003 growth to be 3.7 per cent. The downturn in forecasts reflects the general nervousness in corporate America on the outcome of the imminent war with Iraq. We are still a long way from the double digit growth of a few years ago.

When asked what they intended to spend their increased budgets on 56.3 per cent said Content /document management applications, 55.7 per cent said Query/reporting/analysis, 52.1 per cent Project management, 47.9 per cent Web management applications and finally 46.5 per cent Web analytics.

Aberdeen notes that this shows that companies are 'highly concerned with making effective use of their Web sites/e-business channels and managing the wide range of information types associated with the Internet'. The report also notes that organisations are concentrating on 'optimising business processes' such as through project management and query/reporting analysis.

The full report can be obtained through the Aberdeen Web site for $495.