It has been a tough three and a half years. since since the Internet bubble burst in 2000, information te chnology budgets have been on a downward spiral - thousands of jobs have been cut, projects have been scuttled, and badly needed maintenance has been deferred. Now that the economy is off the respirator and back on its feet, the IT world is starting to revive. Aberdeen, Gartner, and IDC all predict U.S. technology budgets will grow between 4 percent and 8 percent in 2004, depending on how robust the recovery is. But this time, rules about spending will be different. To find out how different, we talked to consultants, experts, and IT professionals around the country. We also polled chief technology officers at more than three dozen companies. More than half of them say their budgets will increase in 2004, and about a fifth expect a boost between 11 percent and 25 percent. But all say this recovery won't resemble the heady go-go days of the late '90s. Here's their advice for managing technology in an up economy.
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