2009 TechNO Expo

Steve Bloom, CEO and owner, Pragmatek Consulting Group, Minneapolis

Pragmatek has not seen a significant slowdown in IT spending. Many of our clients are taking the opportunity to streamline certain business processes and then match them to what IT solution can make them more efficient. For instance, now that production is down, they are trying to standardize certain business functions which had become siloed due to acquisitions, growth, and mergers over the past several years. Certain functions, such as customer relationship management and supply chain management, are really hot right now. I expect this trend to continue throughout the rest of the year. We are not seeing large implementation projects, such as comprehensive ERP installations, but rather more strategic projects.

For clients who are hoping to trim IT budgets, I think the first thing they should look at is their lower-performing employees. Now is the time when it makes sense to shed some staff when things are not as busy, as sad as that is to say. To reduce the workload of remaining staff, now is a great time to cross train the employees so they can be more efficient. Training companies are really suffering, and you can cut some great deals with them.

I would definitely look at non-strategic functions to outsource—that is, areas of the business that do not provide you with a competitive advantage. Typically areas such as human resources and payroll and e-mail services fall into this category. You can outsource certain functions and reduce the staff needed to support these areas.

I think getting leaner and having better trained employees will really position companies to be in great shape once the economy improves. [Companies shouldn’t] skimp on keeping their existing infrastructure current. Do not allow the systems to get too far behind in version releases and technology upgrades. This can be very costly to improve if left too long.

James Jungbauer, president, Hollstadt & Associates, Inc., Burnsville

Over the past couple of years, our clients have tightened IT budgets and adopted a strategic approach to IT expenditures. They are planning for slightly lower IT budgets through the third quarter and expecting a rebound around year end 2009, with stronger budgets in 2010.