While the recession is still under way, now is the time for IT leaders to prepare for business growth, and organizations should aim to complete these plans as soon as possible, according to Gartner, Inc. This advice especially pertains to the nations that first entered the recession, such as the U.S. and the U.K.
Gartner acknowledged that many countries are experiencing ever-increasing levels of unemployment, rising home mortgage payment delinquencies and business bankruptcies while also seeing reductions in consumer confidence, business earnings and overall economic performance. However, in recent months, analysts have observed that many organizations are reporting that their staff are working at near- or full-capacity levels.
This demand level will almost certainly increase when businesses start detecting a resurgence in demand from customers, a more stabilized economic climate and a far-healthier lending environment from which to access credit.
“As these improvements translate into new IT project demands to help businesses identify new revenue and profit opportunities, companies will need a way to manage the already high project load with a new wave of projects,” said Ken McGee, vice president and Gartner fellow.
“However, waiting until that new demand arrives will be far too late to appropriately meet it, and we are recommending that companies start preparing for business growth now with a view to having these plans completed as soon as possible.”
“We’re not trying to predict when the end of the recession will take place, nor are we trying to speculate when credit market stability will occur, or when we will see consistent investment appreciation return to the world’s equity markets,” said Mark Raskino, vice president and Gartner fellow. “What we are saying is that due to the lag in time between the point at which the economy begins to grow again, and when it’s officially declared to be growing again, companies simply can’t wait for an ‘official’ declaration before they begin planning for better times.”
While Gartner’s recommendations call for the resolution of key preliminary cost optimization and governance-related issues before the era of business growth returns, Gartner said that it is not necessarily advocating that organizations automatically revert to the same management techniques they were using in the years leading up to the recession.
Gartner said that it plans to present an array of new cost-optimization-related actions that its clients should take during future technology selection, vendor selection, procurement, contract negotiation, asset management, and other post-recession efforts as they enter the next chapter of supporting business growth.
“Since no one knows when business growth will resume, organizations may need to file away their completed return-to-business plans for up to a year or more. The plan in waiting should be reviewed on a monthly basis and revised according to changes in the business climate,” Mr. McGee said. “Having a completed plan will enable the near-immediate allocation of funding and staffing for IT projects, thus avoiding the need to take weeks to devise a plan after senior executives mandate the need to support business growth initiatives.”
Mr. McGee’s Comments
Mr. Raskino’s Comments
Matthew Mikell says
There is a demand building among business units themselves and IT should gear up and set the proceedures and advisory boards to bring on new solutions.
I think this is an interesting statement, “Gartner said that it is not necessarily advocating that organizations automatically revert to the same management techniques they were using in the years leading up to the recession.” The market has changed and SaaS has become a well-known option for many business users. It leaves open the question of how IT should reinvent their role ….not just their new product/project process. In the age of SaaS and cloud computing, all the delivery options for new software don’t necessarily go through an IT dept.