Leader: Thank you 2003

If you cast your eye around the business and technology media you'll see it is commonplace at this time of year not only to sum up the preceding 12 months but to consult the crystal ball for the next year.

There's nothing wrong with this. If we were to make a list of things that will move your business in 2004 we'd include aligning your systems with Sarbanes-Oxley, Basel II and other pesky governance guidelines; whether or not to outsource any part of your business - or bring a function back in house; server and storage consolidation; controlling IM usage; and maintaining data security as devices such as PDAs and laptops walk out the door everyday loaded with sensitive info.

Our list of things that get discussed a lot now but which you probably shouldn't be losing sleep over include 3G, grid computing, biometrics and malicious hacking. All these are important for some companies but not for most user organisations.

If there is one theme to come out of 2003 it is that many companies have emerged from the downturn stronger and better run than in recent years. This, rather than individual technologies, is something silicon.com would like to end the year writing about.

Speaking to a variety of businesses, in IT and across most verticals, it seems the last six months of the year have been much stronger than the first half. It is almost as if the summer quarter more than made up for weak sales around the time of the war in Iraq.

While that turnaround has been far from easy across the board, it is clear battle-hardened businesses must keep the momentum going.

One aspect of this nascent recovery is that now all our customers are demanding more. They want better quality service, better pricing, shorter delivery times, greater availability, more personalisation - you name it.

In general, this is a good thing - we are all someone else's customer and know how much choice there is if we don't get what we want.

But two caveats must be mentioned. First, let's not run suppliers into the ground. When someone provides a good quality product or service at a good price, let's say we've learnt the lesson of the new media bust (among others) and not push down prices so far the best suppliers can't exist any longer.

Second, let's not assume outsourcing is always the answer. One analyst we spoke to recently predicted a backlash against some consumer-facing companies that offshore, with them eventually characterised as 'not backing Britain'. That may happen in one or two cases but silicon.com predicts that, much as in manufacturing, buyers will eventually get used to a practice that means better prices or, quite possibly, better service in some instances.

No, outsourcing must be approached gingerly because it is simply not the panacea IT services giants make it out to be and not always easy, as agreement guidelines show.

Outsourcing and offshoring could well end up being regarded as the biggest issue facing the sector as we leave 2003.