IT Departments Will Have to do More with Less in 2012

IT groups will have to juggle multiple tasks and priorities this year with little or no change in their budgets, according to a new study from the folks at Gartner (News - Alert).

Polling more than 2,300 CIOs around the world, Gartner’s “Amplifying the Enterprise: The 2012 CIO Agenda” found that IT budgets are expected to increase by just half a percentage point overall and actually dip across North America and Europe. Yet IT professionals as usual will have to pick up the slack by handling the usual array of projects.

Looking across the globe, IT budgets in Latin America will be the strongest with an increase of 12.7 percent, followed by those in the Asia/Pacific regions with growth of 3.4 percent. But budgets in North America and Europe will dip by 0.6 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively. Larger companies with budgets higher than $500 million will also continue to pare down.

Despite the lower budgets, though, the work most go on as always.

In fact, the CIOs surveyed ranked growth as the top priority for the coming year, even in the face of a rough and uncertain financial environment. Attracting and retaining customers and creating products and services are still high on the agenda even with less money in the coffers.

As a result, tech companies and departments will still need to spend money on IT resources. A full 46 percent of the CIOs said their budgets would see a small bump in actual spending this year, with the average executive eyeing an increase between 2 and 3 percent.

Looking at their specific priorities, the CIOs polled pointed to business intelligence and analytics as a key focus this year. Combining analytics with other technologies is seen as one way to drive growth and benefit the business. As three examples, Gartner cited the combination of analytics and supply chain for process management and improvement, analytics plus mobility for field sales and operations, and analytics plus social for customer engagement and acquisition.

Though the money may be tight, technology will continue to play a fundamental role in helping businesses grow and compete. And this role will increase as technology expands to combine traditional IT systems and services with consumer devices as part of the consumerization of IT.

“In the face of continued economic uncertainty and government austerity, business strategies call for a combination of growth and operational efficiency,” said Mark McDonald, group vice president for Gartner Executive Programs. “As reflected in the 2012 CIO Agenda survey findings, effective leaders see customers as the key factor in both of these strategic components, with the customer experience their focal point in reconciling potentially conflicting goals. Present economic conditions may tempt CIOs to force IT back into cost-cutting mode, but senior executives expect technology — and this includes IT — to address the tough challenges by amplifying enterprise strategies and operations.”

So what does all of this mean for IT professions on the front lines? As stated upfront, it means doing more with less. The budgets may be limited, but the workloads will stay the same or actually increase. Faced with tight staff and resources, IT pros will be expected to keep the enterprise running and help their employers grow through technology.

That’s not always an easy task when you’re forced to put in long workdays and sometimes weekends with little or no reward or extra compensation in return. But IT workers have often been challenged by tight workloads and in my experience have a habit of doing their best under such conditions.

Conducted during 2011’s fourth quarter, Gartner’s poll targeted 2,335 CIOs, responsible for more than $321 billion in IT budgets and across 37 industries in 45 different countries.

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