IT Strategies in an Economic Crisis

We've all experienced the volatility of the market this year. In the last week or so, it's been a wild economic ride; not just here in the US, but also globally. You can run from it, but you can't hide... It affects your life on a daily basis. The economists (and I'm one of them), the politicians (I'm not one of them), and the scholars (well, the fact that I'm in business is probably enough said..!), all have their theories and explainations on why we are where we are in 2008. You decide for yourself what flavor of the Economic Kool-Aid that's being served up that you want to drink.

Rest assured, it's volatile and the global financial empire is still a house of cards based on perceptions. I don't think any responsible economist has let us forget that fact since the crash of '29.

The recurring theme I am hearing from most SMBs that I am meeting with is: "The economy is killing me and I know my taxes are going to increase... I simply can't afford to make any IT investments at this time". OK, that's probably fair. I get it - Low sales performance for the last few quarters, CFO counting paperclips, downturn economy, global financial crisis, money/credit is harder to get or more costly (especially for a small business) - 10% even for GE borrowing from Buffet. Getting CAPEX approved by your CFO or board, probably not going to happen anytime soon unless you are a wizard or hypnotist. But does that mean that you stop planning, craw back into your IT shell and put everything on hold until the economy improves? NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT!

So what does this mean to a SMB shop? I can tell you what I think it means. I think it means that it's time to get busy and find a way to show your value to the business leaders. It means adjusting your tactics and strategies to position your shop to be more nimble and be able to react to the needs of the business faster. It also means taking a look at your existing services, vendors, and evaluating efficiencies. Possibly moving them off-premises or under managed services to avoid adding that all those new virtual servers that the hardware manufacturers and the guy hawking VM Ware so eagerly want us to buy. Moving to a hosted environment or leveraging key SaaS products, just may be the answer to helping your company become more scalable and nimble. Nimble enough to react to that very narrow opportunity to serve customers and capture market share at the moment economy takes off. If you have planned well and the infrastructure is in place to scale with the economy, then you are already months ahead of your competition.

Lastly, go ahead and hire that consultant instead of the new analyst or security expert. Given the economy, there are a lot of really talented people willing to help you while they are looking for another job. You never know, when the economy turns and you can make the case for an FTE, they just may be the best candidate for the job... Minimal training, cultural fit, no head-hunter fees, and a negotiable salary because you can now offer them benefits!