IT Innovation suffering through a long recession

From PA Consulting Group, a new CIO survey confirms what many already know: one in three (74%) have been asked to reduce IT budgets and similarly (75%) have been tasked with increasing operational efficiency to deal with the recession.

Of note in the survey, 55% are not setting innovation targets. Not surprisingly, innovation is suffering in this recession as it has in past slowdowns.

Each year Alinean examines the delicate balance in IT budgets between on-going operations, migrations and upgrades, and innovative investments. From our research, in 2009 innovation and migrations / upgrades suffered as budgets fell victim to the changing economic climate:

• IT Operations (keeping lights on) - 66%
• Upgrades and Migrations - 23%
• Innovative IT Projects - 11%

This reversed a promising trend throughout the past decade of increasing innovation spending and reduced on-going operational costs.

According to HP research, the innovation gridlock caused by the budget pressures is having a significant impact on corporate performance.

A summary of the research can be found at:
http://www.cioinsight.com/c/a/Careers/State-of-the-CIO-Survey-557604/?kc=CIOQUICKNL06082010FEA1

An interesting IT innovation study can be found at: http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press_kits/2010/breakingthegridlock2010/BreaktheInnovationGridlock.pdf