Financial services IT spend heading down
IT providers might have to look to new markets, as its cash cow - the financial services sector - heads towards lower IT budgets.
Financial services companies are set to rein in their spending on IT over the next 12 months, according to Forrester.
Link: Alcohol abuse hits financial services sector
The IT analyst found that, while financial services firms have invested heavily during 2004, their IT spend will slump 2.1% in the next year.
IT executives will focus on finishing existing infrastructure consolidation projects and looking at additional investments in two areas: enterprise mobility and data center automation, even in this ‘challenging environment’ for IT services firms.
Manuel Mendez, associate analyst, technology leadership at Forrester, commented: ‘To succeed with these priorities, IT departments will need to focus on generating more new IT investment budget for critical business objectives like customer acquisition and retention, and for key IT initiatives like configuration management.’