IT Spending Growth Remains Flat

Despite growing pressure on enterprisewide IT projects, overall IT spending has remained fairly flat in recent years, according to a new report by Boston-based research firm Aite Group. IT spending reached $25.7 billion at the end of 2004 - just a 1.9 percent increase from the previous year.

"Despite the tight IT budgets throughout the industry, the need to take more enterprisewide IT projects is clearly mounting, driven largely by regulatory pressures," says Sang Lee, managing partner of Aite Group and author of the report. "Firms will have to become more focused, and they also need to develop a clear step-by-step strategic IT plan to get the job done," he adds. "The days of promoting the big-bang approach are long gone. Plans for most large projects must have realistic interim goals that are clearly spelled out and met on a timely basis so that companywide support can be maintained to push enterprisewide IT projects through."