Now before you go cracking open the bubbly, take your time to read the research, it is better to savor good news slowly. Apparently “Techies working in project management are those likely to see the biggest jumps in earnings as they progress up the career ladder.”

Forrester Research’s State Of Enterprise IT Budgets: 2009 survey has highlighted that it forecasts enterprises reducing their operating and capital budgets by 3% in the US and 2% in Europe. Perhaps more worryingly, the same research looking exclusively at SMB’s IT budgets found an even steeper reduction in IT budget spend (4% in US, 3% in Europe).

At AutomatedIT we always look for a silver lining – particularly when it comes to automation delivering tangible cost savings for organisations. Even in a reduced budget environment, introducing and extending automation into your IT infrastructure can make any budget go farther and work better. This is particularly important for SMBs, who can generally make more pronounced and beneficial changes than larger organisations

In fact, making those changes, saving money and reducing man power will shine even brighter when budgets contract – you might even get a thank you from your boss, or those prickly lot in the financial department.

Don’t be scared of what the scary research tells you; by using automation, you can embrace the challenge and make your budget go further.