The VAR Guy

The IT market is growing — but not as fast as initially expected, according to Forrester Research. That’s a nice way of saying things ain’t so hot in corporate IT right now, according to The VAR Guy.

Forrester expects IT-related sales in the U.S. to grow about 2.8 percent this year (far less than the previous prediction of 4.6 percent). Overall, global IT spending will increase about 6 percent this year, down from an earlier forecast of 9 percent.

Forrester’s updated forecast arrives a few days after Cisco CEO John Chambers said selected corporate CEOs were turning cautious and evaluating their IT spending rates.

Still, The VAR Guy remains a glass-half-full type of guy. He believes current IT environment is far different than the dot-com implosion of 2001.

Back then, far too many companies were focused on the wrong financial goals — including “grow at any cost” initiatives that weren’t tied to earnings per share. Big service providers and data center providers wound up with excess capacity when their money-losing customers imploded.

This time around, The VAR Guy hopes, we won’t repeat those financial mistakes.