IT Week Leader: Fight your corner

CIOs should prepare now for the worst

The latest Gartner CIO report is somewhat less than revelatory in asserting that most chief information officers will see "significant change" in their roles over the next few years, as they seek to engage more fully with the business. But one other change perhaps less readily anticipated by many in IT management is the potential for another economic recession.

Despite the recent buoyant financial performance of Microsoft, Oracle and IBM, the collapsing markets of last week suggest that the shadow of an economic downturn looms large enough for CIOs to start thinking seriously about their strategies for coping.

Gartner's advice should be well-heeded by CIOs: plan now to rehearse your presentation to the board. Rather than being the first thing to be cut in a recession, IT should be presented as a way of making cost savings and finding efficiencies throughout the business.