He's also watching interest-rate changes, which affect capital expenditure decisions. Internally, Dupler is tracking revenue per day and yield per territory. He's expecting the soft economy to continue longer than originally expected. A lot of IT projects have a life span of 12 to 36 months. Like in construction, it would cost more to stop and start than to continue to completion.
Some companies still view IT as a cost center, so IT budgets are at risk in hard economic times.
Rather than wait for the ax to fall, CIOs should proactively take their concerns to their boards and CEOs, he says. And rather than thinking about cutting important projects, they should focus on lowering IT expenses. IT executives should be aware of another concern. As profitability and revenue decline, IT will get picked up by shareholder radar in many industries. CEOs and corporate boards will ask increasingly tough questions about the money companies are making, where it's going, and how it's creating value.