Corporate IT Spending Outlook for 2004 -- Part II: Cutting Costs, Boosting Service Top 2004 IT Budget Plans

by George Westerman

In my last Update (Vol. 4, No. 10), I presented an initial analysis of IT spending plans for 2004 from 97 companies that responded to a recent Cutter Consortium survey. We found that "IT intensity" (i.e., budgeted IT spending as a percentage of total organizational spending) is expected to remain steady, although a bit flat, in 2004. Budgets varied from firm to firm, with approximately one-third of organizations reporting that they expect IT intensity to be reduced, one-third reporting that they expect an increase in IT intensity, and one-third stating that they expect IT intensity to remain unchanged in the coming year. To help you understand how your spending plans compare with our survey sample, we examined some important demographic and strategic drivers of IT spending.