How bad is it really?
We have all heard a lot of feedback over the last few months about how dire the IT consulting market is. I have to say that, at the moment, things don't appear to be as bad as some people are saying. Of course, there is always the effort in trying to get new prospects to part with their money, but that's part of business !
We certainly haven't been inundated with requests for work, but there does appear to be an appetite among some companies to bring in people. Who knows, maybe the worst is over?
Having studied economics (a long time ago !), I am aware that many of the economic indicators are subject to a "lag". In other words, we only know that we have come out of recession about 6 months after it actually happened. The same occurred when we entered recession, as you may recall. We kept getting economics reports saying that we were already facing a crises, and that it had been going on for months.
Consequently, I think that a more accurate indicator of the state of the economy is typically the extent of the "feel good factor". Speaking to CTOs and others, I get the impression that they are feeling more positive, and have more budget to spend than previously.
Meanwhile, it's a case of chasing people to close the next business deal...
