CNET’s Matt Asay looks at a Goldman Sachs report forcasting IT spending for 2009. To say the predictions are dire is an understatement.
Mark’s comments are interesting. He takes issue with Goldman’s view that open source and Software As A Service (SAAS) spending will fall as corporates focus on known vendors such as Microsoft and Symantec.
I tend to agree with Goldman’s analysts that the big corporates will turn conservative for the next few years as they focus on their core operations. As long as their IT infrastructure is good enough, that’s where they will stay.
The real action for open source and SAAS will be in the SME sector. Small businesses will be under more competitive and cash pressures as the global depression bites. The who survive the next three to five years will be the ones who do things smarter, quicker and cheaper than their opposition.
This is where open source, and more important, SAAS come into their own as they give smaller enterprises flexibility and cost advantages.
Some of today’s small businesses will the giants of the next economic boom and many of them will be giants because they embraced the new tools and technology available to them.