voke, inc., a modern analyst firm focused on the edge of innovation, today announced the publication of its latest market commentary, entitled Fortune 500 Spending Required for IT Cost Savings. Following the economic downturn of 2000 to 2003, the Fortune 500 companies that pursued short-term cost-cutting strategies such as outsourcing and rollbacks in quality assurance found themselves ill prepared for future opportunities. The new research suggests that those enterprise organizations that continue to invest in critical IT areas such as software development, virtualization, and core lifecycle solutions will be better positioned for the next cycle of growth and expansion.

“If we learned anything over the past eight years, it’s that IT should be treated as a competitive business advantage and not as a cost center,” said Theresa Lanowitz, founder of voke, inc. “Slashing IT budgets in this environment perpetuates the mentality that there’s never enough time or money to do it right but always enough time and money to do it over. While some cuts may be necessary in the short term, we’re advising our clients to be highly prescriptive and instead invest in application lifecycle innovations to deliver strategic business value.”

Among some of the key findings of the report:

• The Danger of CFO Driven Technology Decisions — Following the last downturn, CFOs took back the reins of IT purchasing. The impact of this trend still continues to be felt;
• Requirements Are Key — Solid requirements gathering represent the building blocks for successful software implementations. Accelerating and streamlining the requirements process will contribute to significantly higher project success rates;
• Reap ROI from Software Production Management — Leveraging the latest innovations in application lifecycle management can significantly reduce development costs and improve delivery times;
• Invest in Virtual Lab Automation — The virtues of virtualization are well documented but less known are the benefits that can be realized by deploying virtual lab automation technologies to streamline the software testing process; and
• Jettison Homegrown Tools in Favor of Commercial Solutions — IT organizations that have grown too reliant on their own homegrown software tools will be at a disadvantage compared to those that embrace commercially developed, non-proprietary solutions.

To download a complete version of the research, visit www.vokestream.com and request a membership.