Organisations have been under pressure to make savings wherever possible and have consolidated their IT during the recession. However, along with the opportunities consolidation presents there are also challenges, and experts warn that any form of consolidation needs to be undertaken carefully.In response to the downturn, many organisations downsized their IT departments and infrastructure. Consolidating IT environments in today’s economic climate means financial savings.  As we creep out of recession and look to the future, organisations may find themselves with larger budgets for the first time since the downturn. This may lead them to implement new IT projects such as green IT, cloud computing, virtualisation and SaaS, not only to refresh their infrastructure, but to make greater efficiency savings.When a business moves from cost cutting to growth, the IT requirements of the organisation can change drastically. This can bring about both new challenges and opportunities when it comes to software licensing, IT management and compliance.IT specialists gave their views on consolidation both now and in the future, at a roundtable discussion, organised by FAST Ltd.