Many of the high tech companies have been having a challenging year with poor sales and earnings results.  Microsoft’s revenue is down 6% from a year ago.  Cisco is down 17%.  Intel is down 26%, and the list goes on.  What does this mean for the future of technology adoption?  Does this mean the end of the good time that high tech companies have enjoyed over the last years?  I think not.

In fact, the factors that drove technology adoption over the last ten years are even more important today.  Companies are seeking to ride out the recession by improving business process and reducing costs.  They will increasingly turn to ICT investments to enable this.  Communications tools like data, voice, and video are now enabled by ICT more than ever before, and when compared to other options like travel, are far less costly for an organisation.  A new report by the market research firm Gartner on the topic of sales force automation tools, or SFA, states that the economic downturn actually increases the need for investing in technology as organisations look to maximise existing people resources like sales people.  And, ICT tools can have a great impact on improving customer loyalty, optimising costs, while empowering the workforce with information to do more with less. 

I was working in the last economic downturn when the Internet bubble burst.  What emerged was a healthier and more vibrant ICT industry as companies invested in more projects that provided them with real results and impact, rather than hype.  The same will be said of this recession, so perhaps now is the time to invest while the vendors are all giving fire sale deals.