TNS Survey Finds Glimmers of Hope in IT Spending

NEW YORK, March 24 /PRNewswire/ -- A recent survey of IT decision-makers by
global market information leader TNS offers IT suppliers a few rays of hope.
Although just under half of IT managers say their 2009 budgets have been cut,
slightly more than a third are seeing flat budgets from 2008-09 and 16 percent
are actually projecting increased spend for 2009.

As part of its ongoing technology thought leadership program, TNS surveyed 400
IT managers in the U.S. and Europe at the end of February 2009 about the
impact of the economy on their budgets. Reflecting the broad pullback in
economic activity, a substantial percentage of companies in every industry
report declined IT budgets. As would be expected, financial services and
manufacturing companies declared shrinking IT budgets. Conversely, healthcare
IT spending is projected to be relatively strong with more increasing budgets
than cutting.

While budgets are generally down and no technology category emerged as a
winner, some categories, such as storage hardware, are less impacted by the
economic situation, and will likely grow relative to other technology areas.
Additionally, strategic projects designed to improve business performance
remain on the table for many.

According to John Scott, VP Technology of TNS, "Companies are adjusting to the
economic crisis by prioritizing projects to maximize dollar impact and stretch
existing IT assets. However, budget allocations are not solely focused on the
short term. As personnel and consulting budgets continue to shrink, the
winning vendors will be those who offer solutions that are easy to implement
and maintain with a compelling total cost of ownership - not necessarily the
lowest initial cost."

In addition to cost-cutting, companies are reallocating their spending.
Infrastructure spending, particularly storage, appears to be weathering the
storm better, while consulting and professional services appear to be taking a
significant hit. "This underscores a TNS identified trend towards right
sizing. It is easier and faster to reduce variable costs than expenditures to
support fixed infrastructure," added Scott.

Some key findings from the survey include:

-- Relative to other technology areas, storage hardware spending will
fare
well in 2009 with 31 percent of respondents increasing their budget
and
over four in 10 holding their budget flat compared with 2008.
-- While few are increasing expenditures on end-user or enterprise
applications, about half are holding budgets firm in these areas.
-- 43 percent have cut desktop hardware budgets, likely extending the
life
of existing assets.
-- Cuts in consulting and professional services are broad and deep. 56
percent have cut their consulting and professional services budget.
Further, among those who have cut, 65 percent indicate the cuts are 30
percent or more with nearly a third cutting their budget by over 50
percent.
-- Personnel budget cuts are a mixed message. 43 percent have cut their
personnel budget but the size of the cuts is smaller than for products
and services

Despite the crunch, many companies are taking the long-term view in both costs
and investment for business improvement.
-- Instead of simply cutting costs, about four in 10 are allocating
budget
toward significant new IT projects that will support business growth.
-- 37 percent are more focused on total cost of ownership as a result of
the economic environment compared with only 24 percent who are now
more
focused on initial cost.

About the survey
TNS conducted an online survey of 400 IT decision makers in North America and
Europe from February 17 to March 3rd 2009 using a proprietary panel.
Respondents are a mix of senior and mid-level IT managers with purchase
influence authority from companies across a broad spectrum of industries and
company sizes including Fortune 500 organizations (minimum 250 employees).

The study examined the impact of the economic crisis on overall IT budgets as
well as budgets for specific technologies and how initial vs. total cost
impacts decisions. All results are weighted to reflect the company sizes
within geography.

About TNS
TNS is a global market information and insight group. Its strategic goal is to
be recognized as the global leader in delivering value-added information and
insights that help its clients make more effective business decisions. TNS
delivers innovative thinking and excellent service across a network of 80
countries. Working in partnership with clients, TNS provides high-quality
information, analysis and insight that improves understanding of consumer
behavior. www.tnsglobal.com

As part of the larger organization, TNS employs more than 750 technology
researchers globally and conducts more than 250,000 surveys with IT
decision-makers annually in 70 countries. The TNS Technology client base
includes market leaders in hardware, software and services.

TNS is the sixth sense of business(TM).

The Kantar Group
The Kantar Group is one of the world's largest research, insight and
consultancy networks. By uniting the diverse talents of more than 20
specialist companies - including the recently-acquired TNS - the group aims to
become the pre-eminent provider of compelling and actionable insights for the
global business community. Its 26,500 employees work across 80 countries and
across the whole spectrum of research and consultancy disciplines, enabling
the group to offer clients business insights at each and every point of the
consumer cycle. The group's services are employed by over half of the Fortune
Top 500 companies. The Kantar Group is a wholly-owned subsidiary of WPP Group
plc. For further information, please visit www.kantargrouptns.com

SOURCE TNS

Adrienne McGarr of Ruder Finn, +1-312-329-3907, tns@ruderfinn.com, for TNS; or
Jenny Hall of TNS, +1-212-991-6092, jenny.hall.ny@tns-global.com