IT project spend remains “surprisingly robust” despite credit crunch finds new research from Connect

77% of small to medium sized enterprises in the UK haven’t cancelled or deferred any of their IT projects in the last 6 months, despite the economic down turn, according to a new research report published today by Connect – the IT support company. 81% of businesses also predict that their level of IT spend will either remain constant or increase in 2009.

The survey was conducted by an independent research company on behalf of Connect and consisted of in-depth interviews with IT Managers and Directors at 150 UK companies in a range of industry sectors.

Mark MacGregor, CEO, Connect, comments:

“Despite the current economic gloom, one small bright spark is the continuing optimism about technology expenditure by IT Directors. The fact that only a small proportion of projects have been canned shows an underlying confidence in their businesses – and the importance of IT. . However, we believe that IT Directors should be ultra cautious in signing up to major projects as they may find their budgets being reduced at short notice later in the year.”

MacGregor continued:

“Businesses also have the opportunity to use the downturn to find new ways to reduce their costs. There are many good deals now available in the market that could produce significant savings. Similarly, changing processes and utilising newer technologies could have much wider benefits to their organisations. For example, Connect is now advising clients to switch away from using traditional backup tapes to more secure online backup services because of the business continuity advantages of the more modern technology.”

…ends…

About Connect: Connect IT Support, London – one of the UK’s leading IT support companies – provides a variety of technology services including helpdesk and on-site support, project management and business continuity. The company is based at Canary Wharf in London with a network of engineers based at different locations across the world.

The survey was conducted by Survey Shop on behalf of Connect during September 2008.

Press / Media enquiries please contact:

Nick Bolshaw

PR Consultant to Connect

Rostrum Communications

nick {at} rostrumpr(.)com

020 7392 2632