How badly will IT be hit by a recession?

As I write this, the current financial crisis continues unabated, tearing its way through the stock markets across the U.S., Europe, Asia, and even Japan. Indeed I count a record-busting 50 news articles in the money section of Singapore's main newspaper (subscription) for today alone, with most of them relating to the current situation. 

Surely, a question that must be passing through your mind would be: How will this affect IT overall? At the moment, the evidence is that IT spending is tightening, as people put off or reschedule IT investments or upgrades. This is logical, since everyone prefers to hold onto as much cash as they can in a financial crisis. However, just how bad will it be in the mid-term?

Honestly, it is hard to give an answer for this one. More than ever before, the face of IT has changed since the time it was leveraged merely as a competitive advantage. Today, computer systems and software have become key cogs in organizations around the world. Without IT, most firms would not be able to operate their business. In this context, it is hard to imagine companies ignoring critical or necessary upgrades in anything other than the short term. At the end of the day, I suppose we will just have to wait and see.

Still, every cloud has a silver lining; some are suggesting that a recession will be very kind to open source, even as companies seek to lower their IT costs. As companies seek ways to reduce overheads, they inevitably turn toward open-source solutions. The result is increased innovation.

Have you experienced projects being put on hold or shelved in your organization? - Paul