But then the glass-half-empty side kicks in. IT operating budgets haven’t quite seen the recovery that capital spending has: Sixty-two percent of responding firms report that outlays are flat, or even down, from 2009. In survey comments and follow-up interviews, technology chiefs reported that pressure to control costs continues, with staffing and salaries in particular taking a hit. And even when the purse strings are loosened, it’s largely for technologies like videoconferencing and Microsoft Corporation’s SharePoint that cut costs elsewhere, like the travel budget, or boost the productivity of a shrunken workforce. (CIOs from 86 Am Law 200 firms participated in this year’s survey.)
“It’s no secret that the law firms have laid off a lot of people over the last two years, and the people left are often overwhelmed,” says the CIO at an East Coast firm, who asked not to be identified. “So if you can go into a budget meeting and say, ‘Here’s a project that will save operating expenses’–which can’t be spread out over three to five years like capital costs–and help people do their work, that’s a project you’re going to get through.”
