Study: Businesses definitely bullish about IT

Senior business executives are getting more aggressive in the way they use IT, according to survey results announced on Wednesday.

The executives say they're spending about 20 per cent of their time dealing with IT-related matters and that this engagement is likely to grow through the year, according to market researcher IDC. On top of that, a majority of those surveyed indicated that their companies should use technology more aggressively to support business strategies.

IT issues are getting the increased attention because executives consider it critical to the success of their business, IDC said.

"A growing level of executive commitment combined with the desire to 'play offense' with technology supports the argument that IT matters and the vast majority of business executives clearly understand this," Frank Gens, senior VP of Research at IDC, said in a statement.

A hot topic in the tech community last year was an article in the Harvard Business Review called IT doesn't matter which argued that information technology no longer gave companies that use it a competitive advantage.

Increased attention to IT matters by businesses augurs well for the technology industry. Last week, IDC predicted a 5 per cent increase in global technology spending in 2004. Business IT investments were up nearly 16 per cent in the last quarter of 2003, the company said.

But there won't be a return to the boom days any time soon. IT spending growth will continue to recover along with the overall economy but CEOs remain cautious, and most decision-makers will continue to be cost-conscious and unlikely to authorise big-ticket purchases, IDC said.

Dinesh C Sharma writes for CNET News.com.