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| IT Directors Dazzled by Headlights of Recession Over three quarters of IT staff will have their budgets cut or frozen over the next two years, research from Enterprise Management Services (EMA) has revealed in a report published by workload automation specialist UC4. The news comes as IT staff are placed under increasing pressure to decide whether to cut back on costs or make specific investments, to deliver more with less to meet demanding business expectations. "Already this year, many organisations have shed thousands of IT jobs in a knee-jerk reaction to cut costs, completely overlooking the value of skilled IT staff to the business. This ham-fisted approach stifles innovation, which can be easily achieved through consolidating the workforce and automation. This method cuts costs and allows firms to retain talented staff", commented Alan Smith, SVP, UK & Ireland, UC4. EMA analysis also revealed that only 26 per cent of staff would see their budgets grow, whilst 40 per cent would see cuts and the 34 per cent would have their budgets frozen. "IT directors need to take a long hard look at the benefits of innovation through automation before they commit to layoffs. Bad decisions can leave companies without the technical talent and experience to weather the economic storm", according to Smith. The report also found that automation is rarely measured and is often underestimated in terms of ROI. 77 per cent of survey respondents stated that automation significantly improved data centre profitability and efficiency across the business. "In this economic climate, getting out the red pen and making sweeping ill-considered cuts can do serious damage to the business. Strategic investment in automation can break down complex workloads, reduce overnight batch processing flow, and increase productivity. Surviving the recession cannot be achieved purely on cutbacks - businesses need to innovate and invest in technology that can deliver long term benefits, efficiency and ROI", Smith concluded. write your comments about the article :: © 2009 Computing News :: home page |