The world's largest business software maker, SAP, will announce its performance on Wednesday in what should be a good measure of how the IT market is doing in the recession (which is now a recession, thanks to stats made available on Thursday, as if we didn't already know). Following the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the company issued a warning it may not meet targets as large banks cut software spending, so Wednesday's announcement is keenly awaited by financial pundits.
As the banking system collapse still sends aftershocks through the entire IT community, the one thing I keep hearing from colleagues who work for banks is that 'reporting has gone crazy.' The number of reports and types of reports required on their work have risen dramatically since governments took a stake in their everyday business. Surely robust IT systems are needed in this climate more than ever before? If, instead of investing in sound technologies, banks are cobbling together homemade systems (which may be more likely), it seems logical to conclude that the problem of lacking checks and balances and early warning systems will get even worse. It's scary to think that our fragile banking system could be rebuilt on top of shaky IT systems. Wednesday's announcement should be a bell weather for this issue.
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