A new report from Numara Software could interest umbrella company IT contractors. It suggests that IT budgets in the UK suffered more than in some other European countries.
42% of IT managers reported that their budgets have been cut as a result of the downturn, compared to 28% in France and 33% in Germany. And 55% said that new projects were being delayed through lack of investment.
However, 60% of respondents believe that companies will start to increase IT investment this year and a further 29% think budgets will be increased in 2011, an increase which should benefit freelancers.
Reducing spend on IT can have devastating effects on a company. Once IT infrastructures become overburdened they are unable to effectively respond to the needs of a business. Senior IT professionals are now fighting back against cuts and a third of those surveyed said they will continue asking the board for funding.
One problem shared by 70% of businesses is their inability to keep track of their IT assets. Tracking is both time consuming and labour intensive and IT managers felt it was important to have flexible asset tracking systems in place.
Despite cuts in funding, Concept IT, a specialist recruiter, reported an increased turnover for last year. Chris Short, the organisation’s MD, said he was pleased to see some return to normality last month when the company achieved the highest number of permanent sales in almost two years. However, he is still slightly cautious and will feel more confident if this trend continues for the rest of the year.
The CBI recently forecast that IT investment will remain flat this year.
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