Robin Turner, former CIO of retail group Arcadia , now managing director of First Friday, which specialises in training and change managemant consultancy writes:

The strategic importance of IT for business is as imporatnt as ever, but businesses have to work harder to get the benefit since a lot of quick wins have gone. What people sometimes forget is that business change programmes are enabled by IT. The crucial thing is to ensure that the business changes its way of working to enable delivery of IT investment benefits. While there are some companies that should be IT followers there are IT leaders that are often very successful and get a lot of benefit from it.

Why do you delay an IT investment? Because you simply haven't got the cash to do it in relation to the benefits its going to deliver. But to delay because IT costs will come down in a year or two is a nonsense.

Could spending on IT damage competetive position? It depends on the sector the company is in and its financial position. While there may be good commercial reasons for short-term delays, businesses must keep their eye on the "prize" and not delay beyond the medium term. The longer the delay, the more expensive and difficult it may become to maintain competetive position.

Managing IT costs and mitigating risk may appear boring and you need people to do it. But you can do it and look for competetive advantage form IT especially if the business is the sort that wants to move forward.