Down Economies -- IT Spending

I begin teaching in the executive MBA program at Carlson today. I look forward to spending the next couple of months with this impressive mix of 60 odd (ok, 52 to be precise:-) Twin Cities executives from all walks of business. The question is somewhat timeless -- IT spending continues to rise worldwide, yet as many firms fail to drive value from these as those that do! 

Interestingly, a new article from Mckinsley Quarterly dwells on what firms should do with respect to IT spending in downturns. Some interesting excerpts:

"CIOs, of course, should continue to make their operations more efficient and to reduce costs, especially in areas that show signs of bloat."

"Still, except in the most dire circumstances, turning off technology investments during a downturn is counterproductive. When business picks up, you may lack critical capabilities..."

"Few companies have successfully capitalized on the explosion of data in recent years. Often this information, residing in separate IT systems or spread across different business units, has never been mined for insights that could add value. "

Not surprisngly the three pillars of our course are:

1. How to manage IT to keep the lights on and continously reduce costs while improving service?
2. How to leverage corporate data for business inteliigence?
3. How to use IT to play offense and innovate?

Look forward to the hearing your views on this.