(By Info-Tech Analyst Andy Woyzbun - Printed with permission from Processor magazine www.processor.com).
Despite many danger signals, the current worldwide economic crisis seems to have taken everyone by surprise. Governments and businesses continued to be optimistic through most of 2008 and made few plans for bad times. But the warning bells are very loud now.
IT managers who fail to develop contingency plans for budget reductions in advance will make some really fast (and likely damaging) decisions on where to cut costs. Smart IT managers who plan for budget adjustments in advance will be able to make intelligent choices when the need arises.