News analysis: Budget 2012

And, once again, much will depend on how the tax reliefs, incentives and grants are targeted and administered.

"Despite Corporation Tax dropping to 24 per cent, benefitting businesses in the UK, the Treasury needs to go further in stimulating the growth of technology enterprises," warns Peter Grant, CEO of CloudApps.

"Osborne said that the UK will be the technology centre of Europe. To achieve this goal, he is looking to grow video games and high-end TV industries. True, the Government considering enterprise loans for young people to start their own business. But what about existing B2B tech companies? The UK economy depends on SMEs like CloudApps to deliver the nation out of recession."

So far, there is little on offer to companies in the IT and internet technology space, beyond the improvements on offer to any other SME. And there was no specific mention in the Budget of actions to improve the UK's technology skills base, or of the type of targeted investments announced for oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, aerospace or even film and TV.

It seems the IT industry will either have to wait another year for help or take its own steps to generate growth and improve competitiveness.

Stephen Pritchard is a contributing editor at IT Pro.