-We are seeing perhaps the worst combination of economic indicators in the last 30 years," Fleisher said. -If you talk to the politicians and even the economists they are remaining quite bullish, although CEOs don't seem to share their enthusiasm, there isn't a single company reporting earnings higher than 1999."
Speaking at a media briefing in Sydney, Fleisher described Australia as a mature and sophisticated IT market, but qualified his statements pointing out much of this growth appeared to be occurring in sectors outside of IT.
Bob Hayward, senior vice president and chief research officer for Gartner in the Asia Pacific region, is similarly opined.
-Australia is recognised as a microcosm of the global IT industry, it is extremely competitive and open which attracts players from all around the world," Hayward said. -Despite overall market growth, we will continue to see low levels of IT spending throughout 2002, especially in terms of PCs and printers."
Qualifying the statement with an indication that services and software would buck this trend, Hayward indicated CIOs are now following the reverse of the spending trends characterised by the profligacy of the dot-com era. And according to Fleisher this trend is not limited to Australia.
-CIOs have discovered that holding back on spending and being really tough with their budgets earns them respect," Fleisher said. -They have been rewarded for that during the down times, and for the first time there appears to be an underspend on IT budgets."
While he concedes that much of the growth in the Australian economy has been based on the housing sector, Hayward does not subscribe to the oft-expressed concern that growth would end at mid-year, when the Federal Government's first-home buyers' subsidy comes to a close.
-We have also done well globally out of the weakness in the Australian dollar making us more competitive," Hayward said. -Many Asian economies indicate a pick up at about the same time, so we should benefit from that growth."
