Uncertainty in IT budgets

The economic downturn is creating industry uncertainty about the IT budgets for 2009, says Computer Weekly.

According to soon-to-be-published research carried out by CIO Connect among its FTSE 250 CIO members, CIOs are divided over the prospects for their budgets in 2009.

Justin Speake, CEO at analyst Bloor Research, said he is not seeing any major cuts to budgets: "There are a few major projects that might be slowed down, but apart from the finance sector, which is being a bit tighter, there is not much change from last year."

IT project management practices are stuck in the mud, and they're hindering IT departments' ability to deliver projects successfully, according to a Forrester report, says Network World.

Mary Gerush, author of the report, states that the project management discipline has not kept up with the pace of change in business or in IT.

While IT departments have adopted service-oriented architecture and agile software development practices to become more responsive to business needs, the project management discipline has remained largely focused on methodology, she said.

Integrated Project Management Company (IPM) announced it was named on Inc magazine's annual list of the 5 000 fastest-growing private companies nationwide, for a second consecutive year, says Market Watch.

IPM was also identified as one of the Chicago area's top 100 businesses, growing its revenue by nearly 150% in the last three years.

Founded in 1988, IPM serves the life sciences, industrial, food and beverage, consumer products, and healthcare industries. IPM's service areas include product development, process improvement, and operations optimisation.