Innovation in IT hit by recession budget cuts

A lack of investment in IT has come at a cost to innovation, according to new research.

Commissioned by BT Global Services, the Enterprise Intelligence survey showed that cuts in budgets during the recession has affected IT performance with a quarter of senior executives believing reductions had harmed innovation.

The survey was conducted by Datamonitor and questioned 2,400 IT users and 270 chief information officers (CIOs) and senior executives across 13 countries.

Results also showed that 23 per cent of senior executives claimed cuts stopped them winning business as well as 61 per cent of CIOs and 63 per cent of senior executives saying ageing IT was a barrier to their ability to "think globally."

Hanif Lalani, chief executive of BT Global Services, said in a statement: "This research provides a snapshot into the current mindset of global CIOs and senior executives, and it should act as a call to action on key issues such as the role IT plays in driving global business success."

He added: "The research also highlights that in the current climate, CIOs face key decisions about how they approach the upturn, when it comes, to ensure they thrive. There is a growing consensus that innovation will be rewarded as we exit the recession."

Although there seems to be concern around innovation, one of the biggest moves in the IT industry is still not being accepted by many senior employees.

The survey showed that more than half of CIOs didn't see how cloud computing could save money, and 57 per cent of CIOs were unhappy with the idea of running apps or storing data on servers outside their country of operation.