New IT Business Survey: IT Decisions Driven by ROI, Savings

Ottsville, PA (PRWEB) May 3, 2007

A new study from Eracent, Inc., a leader in IT and business solutions, shows that IT purchase decisions are widely driven by return on investment, potential savings and risk abatement. The survey also shows a trend in funded IT initiatives towards consolidation and compliance.

"Change is constant in our industry, and this survey shows that IT leaders want to stay ahead of the curve by working on business process improvement to increase ROI and control spending," said Walter Szablowski, President of Eracent, Inc. "What was most surprising about the results is the widespread industry need for better lifecycle management tools to manage system growth and help define ROI."

Survey Findings

The top 3 funded IT initiatives reported in the survey include server consolidation (76%), license compliance (68%) and hardware refresh (66%).

A majority of the companies surveyed are working to reduce costs and increase efficiency through server consolidation. With published estimates showing that as many as 80% of all servers are only 20% utilized, untapped savings are likely from reducing maintenance, power consumption and avoiding future purchases. The survey results also indicate that consolidation does not equate 100% to virtualization. The number of companies considering virtualization is nearly half that of the number of companies who are pursuing consolidation.

Respondents also indicated that bottom line results clearly drive software acquisition decisions as well. ROI and bottom line results are key purchasing drivers, however short term payback is not. Over 70% of all respondents expect a software purchase to result in savings from using the software and 60% expect a new package to improve the ROI on existing software or systems. Well over half of respondents expect new software to enhance management of IT, thus providing some material benefit or economies of scale.

The use of an IT asset lifecycle management tools strongly correlates with the trend toward financially-driven IT programs and acquisitions. More than two-thirds of all companies responding indicated that they have a lifecycle tool in place or plan to license one in the current fiscal year.

Survey analysis shows that IT departments are looking beyond operations to examine how they can increase profitability and financial return on IT investment. Buying decisions are guided by financial factors and IT initiatives are closely tied to reducing operating costs. If these trends hold, IT suppliers may well be spending as much time in front of the CFO as they do with the CIO, and ROI may supplant technology metrics as key selling points.

Survey Source

More than 3,000 IT professionals from a broad array of companies and organizations were contacted in February 2007 and asked about their IT initiatives, enterprise software platforms, IT asset management activities and where they go for industry information.

To download a complimentary copy of the survey analysis and related white papers go to http://www.eracent.com.

About Eracent: Eracent, Inc. is a global provider of IT asset management solutions for organizations who require ROI and accountability as they manage IT as a business. Eracent offers a full suite of IT asset management solutions that solve tactical and strategic business goals with technology that is reliable and designed for today's multi-platform complex environments. Eracent's ease of implementation includes compatibility with most popular enterprise software applications and has been used to enhance the value of widely used solutions such as Microsoft® SMS™. To learn more about Eracent, visit http://www.eracent.com, or send email.

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