Budgets? Up. Expectations? Way Up... Probably
from the careful-what-you-sell dept
If you're working in technology these days, you've probably noticed that budgets are suddenly opening up. Companies are willing to spend again. From here, it appeared like things really started freeing up in the second and third quarter - but most of those budgets were still somewhat constrained by overall year 2003 budgets. Now that most companies have their 2004 budgets in place, the story is that there's a lot more money there to spend. Does that mean a return to the carefree "sure, we'll buy whatever you have to sell" days of the boom years? Not quite. It sounds like at least a few people have learned their lessons, and while they may have more money to spend, customers want to make sure they're actually getting some value out of what they buy. At least, that's the story they tell the analysts. Whether or not that's what actually happens remains to be seen. Of course you're going to tell an analyst that you need to be cautious in how you spend, but when you realize you still have half your budget left, and are afraid the folks higher up will simply give you less cash next time, you find a way to spend it... fast.
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