Consumer slowdown may hit IT this year!
The American consumer has ridden to the rescue of corporate revenues for years. Buoyed by highly valued homes that served as virtual ATM machines, consumers indulged their appetite for goods and services, particularly consumer electronics and computer-related devices. That’s starting to change. As the economy slows, there are signs that the pace of consumer spending is not only slowing, but actually shrinking for the first time in years.
Bad news for consumer-oriented tech companies? Of course. But don’t think that enterprise IT providers are necessarily exempt. Spending ripples through the economy; dollars spent at restaurants may ultimately result in the purchases of inventory management software from Oracle, or servers from Sun for use at corporate headquarters. American Express, for example, is an enormous consumer of enterprise software, hardware, and services, but with late payments on the rise, the giant credit card company could well dial back IT spending.
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