Are your storage purchases in 2009 increasing or decreasing?
By Paul Travis, March 6, 2009, 1:40 PM
For the first time in more than five years, worldwide factory revenues for external disk storage systems posted a decline in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to IDC’s Worldwide Disk Storage Systems Quarterly Tracker. Revenues totaled $5.3 billion, down 0.5 percent, IDC said. The numbers show that storage, one of the stronger tech sectors, isn’t immune to the global economic slowdown and cutbacks in IT spending by businesses and other enterprises.
Eighty-nine percent of storage survey respondents report that they will either maintain or increase their storage purchasing in 2009. There is reason for most of the storage business to remain confident looking ahead to next year — despite the free falls in other sectors of the economy.
My viewpoint – Even in a slow economy some customers are requiring more storage, and some customers are requiring less. Companies laying off thousands of employees will probably see their storage needs flat line or decrease. Fewer employees are going to store less than a full staff would.
All the companies we speak with and visit are looking for a better deal on their storage purchases and support. Hardware vendors are extremely negotiable now on price and terms. If you have money and are looking at new equipment it is definitely a good time to get competitive quotes. If you are looking for ways to stretch your storage maintenance budget there are many options available. Our travel budget has increased, as we are seeing more people who are interested in our services all over the country.
Saving money in hard times is not easy, but efficiencies can be found that were over looked when times were good.
