Early indications are that the war in Iraq will not affect spending on technology, reports Info-Tech Research Group, a technology research firm. Although a majority of companies surveyed felt that the war was having an effect on their technology operations, less than 12% felt that the war would impact spending whatsoever. “Of the companies we surveyed, 57% felt that the war would affect their IT operations, but not in regards to spending,” says Jason Livingstone, Info-Tech Research analyst.
“We see this as a very positive sign that companies still have an optimistic outlook on the economy, because IT spending is usually one of the first things that gets cut back during an economic slowdown,” he says. “It will be interesting to see if these feelings continue if the situation in Iraq is not resolved quickly.”
“What we also found interesting was that even though most companies felt their IT operations would be affected by the war, only 30% were taking any measures to increase the security of their infrastructure,” says Livingstone. “This also indicates to us that they are not overly concerned, at least not yet.”
The survey showed that the companies who were increasing security precautions were taking multiple measures. Tightening controls on their firewall, cited by 25% of respondents, and more closely monitoring network traffic, cited by 23%, were the most common precautions.
Livingstone says Info-Tech will break down spending by industry later this year, but that he believes retail spending fits the same pattern.
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