By Jennifer Zaino

Businesses make tough choices every day, especially in an economic downturn. Many industries—particularly those sensitive to changes in consumers' buying habits — may react to such a downturn by putting the brakes on certain IT projects until better times arrive. You can see proof of this by looking back at the early 2000s, when overall spending on IT fell dramatically following the dot-com bust.

However, something's different about this downturn. In the past, when the economy slowed, companies generally looked to cut IT spending with little care as to where those reductions occurred. This time, everyone from the senior business executive down wants to make sure that funding remains for projects that help the company weather the next 12 to 24 months and come out ahead of the competition.

"Executives are concerned that the [right] things won't get cut, and that certain investments in IT[will] continue, or possibly even increase in specific areas that are highly relevant to us for dealing with change in the marketplace," says Mike Cuddy, VP and CIO of Toromont Industries Ltd., an Ontario, Canada-based company that provides capital equipment and ongoing support to construction, mining, forestry and other industrial sectors.