AUSTIN, TX - JANUARY 27, 2004
Over 130 of Austin's high tech professionals gathered at the Four Seasons to discuss the business outlook for 2004 — and discern fact from fiction. A panel of experts opined about more than just IT spending for 2004; they predicted hot topics as well.

Abbie Lundberg, editor-in-chief of CIO Magazine moderated the panel that included Fred Mapp, CIO, AMD; Jay Gardner, CIO, BMC Software; Carolyn Purcell, CEO Purcell Ventures, LLC; and, Russ Finney, CIO of Tokyo Electron.

While all the panelists agreed that budgets for the year will be flat to increasing slightly, many believed that the key to their success will be creating value for the business with fewer resources and increased cost pressures. In addition, all agreed that the customer related parts of their business would get the attention/dollars first. Other areas of concern included the need to continually operate on a global scale, the benefits and challenges to outsourcing and improved utilization and optimization of current systems.

The consensus for the evening was that the economy was indeed looking better for the upcoming year, but all remained cautious about any type of hockey-stick growth as experienced in the mid-90's.

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