Progress of which we dare not yet speak

We are going to do our best to get through this entire column without mentioning the two most over-used words in the current economic crisis.

One is a colour, often associated with the environmental movement. The other is what a gun does, or what a striker in football has to do to score a goal.

Get the drift? Good. So, if you take a look at the latest Technology Barometer research in our regular quarterly survey of IT manager’s opinions on their prospects for the next 12 months, it’s hard not to see a degree of optimism bursting through.

On almost every criteria we asked about, our readers were more positive than they were three months ago – expecting small growth in salaries, recruitment and IT spending. When asked about plans to evaluate or implement a range of key technologies over the next year, in almost every case the response showed a higher priority than at any time since the research began in January.

Now some would say this is evidence of, erm, those two banned words.

It would be good to think that is the case. But the reality may yet be prove to be different. The problem is, nobody really knows. If you look at the wide variety of macro-economic data emerging, it is still patchy and lacking a common thread.

Separate research last week suggested that many IT managers have seen dramatic decreases in the payback period required to free up any investment – with some falling as low as one month.

Certainly nobody is likely to see IT budgets return to their former heights quite as quickly as bankers’ bonuses.

But if caution is still prudent, it is great to see IT managers looking to the future and starting to consider what new technologies might help take their organisations forward.

Now is the perfect time to start evaluating and investigating what IT will be able to deliver once those elusive two words become commonly accepted by all.