Be Careful Where You Cut

There’s no doubt about it; whether it’s local, state or federal budgets, discretionary dollars are going to be in scarcer supply. Deep cuts are coming at all levels. But not all cuts are the same.

A large part of the growth of the IT industry over the last 30 years has been a result of the wholesale buy-in and adoption of IT as a means to make government and municipal services more efficient and effective. Data processing, document management and networked systems now make room for cloud-based storage, wireless parking meters and e-gov portals. The educational system has been another huge consumer of IT. Legislators, state CFOs and city and county budget managers would be wise to not allow their IT ecosystems to fall behind. Doing so runs the risks of losing efficiency and productivity across the board, resulting in higher costs, lower constituent satisfaction and even deeper cuts.

Much of the budget debate will be shaped on a local level, by local issues. The protests in Wisconsin last week are testament to that. And it’s nearly impossible to compare the value of spending a dollar on this versus a dollar on that because both “this” and “that” have constituencies. While there can be an argument about how much to grow IT spending or what systems to buy, at least the argument is usually nothing more than a dull background noise.

A recent report noted the IT / tech industries as the most respected industry on a global basis. One of the major reasons why is because people can touch and see the investment governments make in IT. It’s something that makes lives better while improving the local economic and educational environment. IT is pro-growth.

Let’s make sure we keep it a priority.