IT departments will shrink

According to a research report, published by Giarte, internal IT departments of Dutch companies will further shrink in 2004. The report is based on the opinion of 164 key IT decision makers. Companies are expected to protect their ROI and the added value of IT, increase efficiency and lower costs. Naturally, outsourcing and off-shore outsourcing is a possible vehicle to reach these objectives.

In most large Dutch organisations slight IT budget cuts are expected. Nevertheless, at large, the IT budget will not change significantly compared to 2003. More and more companies are looking at external resources. Companies are expected to spend more on outsourcing and software packages and less on custom software development and new IT staff, according to the Giarte report. However, there are differences in approach.

ERP and EAI are two areas where investments and new projects are foreseen in 2004. A number of these projects will be system and platform change as many of the companies are still using older systems. CRM projects will not gain high priority.

New technology adaptation, such as VoIP or wireless will be slow.

Sources: Het Kennisplatform Topmanagement & IT