Uncertainty is as bad as pessimism

IDC has lowered its forecast for IT growth in 2003 because of increasing uncertainty about the economy.

I conducted a survey of CIO’s back in August and found them to be fairly optimistic about 2003 spending. But clearly we still have no idea what’s going to happen and no one’s going to spend money in that kind of environment.

“The outlook for the next six months continues to be extremely volatile and a double-dip IT recession can’t be ruled out in a worst-case scenario. But the fundamental drivers remain solid,” said Stephen Minton, director of IDC’s Worldwide IT Markets group. “Once the fog of war has cleared, there will be a gradual recovery in corporate profits and business confidence, and this will translate into increased IT spending. We expect to see improved market conditions in every region in 2004. And by 2006, the global IT market will generate $1 trillion in revenues.”

In other words, someday we’ll get past this, but we’re not sure when.

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