Survey Finds Government IT Expecting Budget Problems for 2009

RESTON, Va. - March 24, 2009

Agencies bracing for change from the Obama administration and fallout from the economic crisis

The Obama administration’s commitment to change and the impending budget impact of the economic crisis are two major concerns for federal IT professionals heading into 2009, according to a survey administered at FOSE 2009 by ScienceLogic, a leading IT Operations Management provider. The survey asked IT workers to identify their concerns for the new year as well as what they see as their agency’s biggest IT hurdles.

A new administration always means major change for upper level management in federal agencies, and the new federal CIO and CTO positions mean change is coming to federal IT operations. Over 50 percent of respondents are expecting some form of change regarding IT directives from the Obama White House, with 16 percent expecting a major change. 30 percent of IT professionals are taking a "wait and see" approach to the new administration’s plans, while only 12 percent anticipate no change.

Respondents to the survey also indicated that federal IT is not immune to the financial problems of the private sector: 47 percent of IT professionals surveyed said that their budgets have been or will be impacted by the current economic downturn. Stalled projects (30 percent), freezes on new projects (8 percent) and major IT cost-cutting (9 percent) were the top results. Overall, only 16 percent of agency IT teams are expecting no impact to their budgets from the recession.

Not surprisingly, budget was the overwhelming choice as the top challenge facing federal IT in 2009. 53 percent of respondents cited IT budget and spending as their number one hurdle, while IT security (41 percent), new technology/innovation (26 percent) and IT modernization (25 percent) rounded out the list.

This is the first of two announcements regarding ScienceLogic’s FOSE 2009 Government IT Survey. The second announcement, detailing what projects and technologies government agencies are spending money and resources against will be released during the week of 3/30.

For more information on ScienceLogic or to see results from previous FOSE Government IT Surveys, please visit www.sciencelogic.com.

About ScienceLogic

Reston, Va.-based ScienceLogic LLC was started with one goal: Simplify IT. Founded and staffed by technology professionals who are intensely focused on making IT management simpler, better and faster, ScienceLogic is committed to delivering solutions with unquestionable quality and value and enabling its customers to deliver impeccable service to their constituents. ScienceLogic's patent-pending EM7 Meta-Appliances are a next-generation "framework" solution engineered to deliver comprehensive systems, network and application management out-of-the-box. The revolutionary EM7 technology combines a secure and pre-integrated set of applications with automation tools, reporting, "single pane of glass" view and centralized data repository - all optimized to work together for proactive and efficient IT operations management. Industry Awards: Inc 500 list of Fastest Growing Private Companies, Winner - Best of Interop/Network Management) 2009, Gartner Cool Vendor in IT Operations 2009. For more information, call 1-800-SCI-LOGIC (1-800-724-5644) or visit our web site at www.sciencelogic.com.

######

ScienceLogic, EM7 G2 and EM7 G3 are trademarks of ScienceLogic, LLC in the United States and other countries. Other company, product and service marks may be trademarks or service marks of others.