Australian Sourcing Pros Must Act Now To Beat The 2009 Price Increase For IT Solutions

The large drop of the Australian dollar against most currencies around the world has effectively increased the price of any IT solution sourced from outside of the country. On that basis, many IT providers are talking about passing on an increase across the board of 5% to 15% early in 2009 — and some already have. Australian IT buyers should act now to protect their IT budgets in 2009 by fixing rates or prices before the end of December 2008, considering new financing packages, consolidating IT suppliers, or switching to local providers (where available). This should also be seen as an opportunity for the IT department to consolidate IT systems by removing the traditional IT silos and using virtualization software for server environments to consolidate systems. While the sourcing team will not have the influence to implement such approaches alone, you can be a good governance point for new IT spend to ensure that it meets corporate requirements.