No more free lunches

Analysts suggest that IT spend will be under pressure for many months to come and that vendors will be put under more pricing pressure.

So, are you in the market for imported software? Each US dollar is going to cost you about R10. So that entry-level solution you have been reviewing at $100 000 now costs R1 000 000.

You have a few options: you can wring your hands and whine about the way things used to be, you can cut back on development, you can try to build it yourself, or you can sit down with your supplier and map out a solution.

Option one: Wring your hands? Take early retirement, you are way past your `sell by` date.

Option two: Cut back on development? A definite option, but beware you do not throw out the baby with the bath water. The option is not to take a pen and scratch through the expensive projects. This is the time for very careful selection based on business priorities, not on `nice to haves`.

Non-critical upgrades to desktop software will likely go onto the backburner and emerging technologies will be reviewed very critically.

Peter Hall, Consultant, application integration specialist

Option three: DIY? Yes and no. This is not the time for experimentation, "gee I wonder if the `X` team could tackle this, maybe they could build a comprehensive application integration solution..." Well now, if that is truly the case, how come they haven`t already done it? The decision to do it yourself should be because you have the right developers, managers and vision, not because you don`t like the software purchase price. Take a long hard look at the competencies of your developers. Can they really build it better and cheaper than world-class producers, and will they still be around to maintain it when things go wrong? The skills shortage and resultant high salaries are contributing to the difficulties facing IT executives and we live in SA, hardly the cutting-edge of software development.

Option four: A partnership? This is always a strong option, made even more so by recession, plummeting currency value and the events of the past weeks. But how do you select partners? Do you go back to the time-honoured criteria: who provides the longest lunches, the best hunting trips, the most comprehensive overseas `evaluation` junkets? Or do you concentrate on real competencies?

Option four is the best bet, but let`s take a step back to review our list of proposed projects. We`ve got everything from the CEO`s desire - `I want to provide the best service to our customers`, right through to the mindless - `our competition has it, so we should also`.

The events of 11 September have shifted the priorities. The `nice to haves` will drop down the priority list and less will be spent on cosmetic developments. Non-critical upgrades to desktop software will likely go onto the backburner and emerging technologies will be reviewed very critically.

Excessive spend on whizzy new Office product upgrades is rendered useless when untrained staff use the new products as they would the old. The CEO is well justified to ask the CIO to quantify how the secretary using the latest version of the Office suite word processor will improve customer service.

This is not to suggest that we should adopt a laager mentality and just make do with outdated technology. That is no solution. The solution lies in identifying the projects and products that give the enterprise real value, that will improve customer service and retention and then to partner wisely and manage the projects competently.