Global 2000 IT organizations are going through a rigorous re-evaluation of their resources and requirements to tighten spending controls and optimize all IT investments. This is in response, of course, to the general economy and to corporations’ increased scrutiny of IT spending. Even so, a lot of IT spending is wasted. For example, a May 2002 Morgan Stanley report estimated that Global 2000 corporations had overspent in IT by more than $130 billion in 1999 and 2000. Gartner Group estimates that as much as 20% of IT spending was wasted in the last several years.

At the same time, IT has become a competitive edge for most corporations and the fear of “getting behind” requires that IT continue to invest strategically and build for the future. Gartner Group estimates that by 2010 the typical large North American enterprise will spend 50% of its corporate capital budget on IT. CIOs and other senior IT executives are under constant pressure to meet increasing demands for IT resources from their internal and external customers, including line-of-business heads, suppliers, and functional teams.