Cutting costs trumps IT security

A new survey by the Society for Information Management (SIM) finds a complete shift in what IT managers are doing when it comes to cutting costs and security. For the first time, saving money is more important than security for your computer systems. CIOs are spending more time trying to cut overall costs rather than slashing IT budgets, according to Jerry Luftman, a professor of Information Systems at Stevens Institute of Technology.

"The results of the study confirm that the economic downturn has caused a significant shift in priorities," Luftman told TechTarget.com. "IT executives are focusing on ensuring that business is conducted efficiently to get more mileage out of their budgets."

Luftman said "security was hot last year" but it's now on the back burner.

Here are the primary concerns listed in the 2009 survey of IT management, as reported by TechTarget.com:
1.    Business productivity and cost reduction
2.    IT and business alignment
3.    Business agility and speed to market
4.    Business process re-engineering
5.    IT cost reduction
6.    IT reliability and efficiency
7.    IT strategic planning
8.    Revenue-generating IT innovations
9.    Security and privacy
10.  CIO leadership role

For more on this year's top IT priorities:
- see this TechTarget.com article

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