Key Issues for IT Executives 2010: Judicious IT Investments Continue Post-Recession

While the recession has officially been declared as ending during the past summer, the prolonged economic conundrum continues to pose new challenges to organizations around the world. The past year has shown some increase in IT investments, yet IT executives continue to proceed cautiously and predict incremental improvements in 2011; there is no anticipated dramatic return to the growth levels that preceded the recession.However, a significant shift in IT priorities first captured in 2009 continues: IT organizations are working aggressively and closely with their business partners to identify opportunities to reduce costs and improve productivity across the company through IT initiatives. This phenomenon is very different from previous recessions where IT budgets were typically the first to be cut.Since its inception in 1980, the Society for Information Management (SIM) survey has helped IT leaders around the globe understand important issues and trends. This article presents the major findings based on survey responses from 172 U.S. organizations in mid-2010. The top five management concerns were: 1. Business productivity and cost reduction; 2. Business agility and speed to market; 3. IT and business alignment; 4. IT reliability and efficiency; 5. Business process re-engineering.This is the fifth in a series of MISQE-published reports based on a SIM membership survey facilitated by the lead author. As in previous reports, this article also presents findings on key application and technology developments, and various aspects of the IT organization. In addition, similarities and differences between the U.S. results and those from similar samples of European and Asian/Australian organizations provide a more global perspective.