CIOs see more project spending

Several US CIOs have told attendees at a supply chain conference in New York they expect vibrant spending for new IT projects next year.

Michael Jones, senior vice-president and CIO at Circuit City Stores, said at the Raymond James IT Supply Chain Conference that the US$10 billion retailer plans to spend a decent amount of IT dollars on new POS systems for 600 stores. The company also is moving forward with an enterprise data warehouse project.

Jones said the spending needle was rising in response to "the needs and demands of the organisation".

Todd Thompson, vice-president of information technology at Jet Blue Airways, said he expects as much as 75 percent of his company's nearly US$50 million IT budget to be on new projects. "We don't have a legacy base to maintain," he said.

Unlike some other airlines, Jet Blue continues to invest in customer-facing technology projects, including self-service kiosks, Thompson said.

The CIOs' upbeat mood was echoed by top IT distribution executives at the conference.

"The IT market is stronger than we have seen it for some time," said Kent Foster, chairman of Ingram Micro. "I would generally characterise [the technology market] around the world as strong."

CIOs expected to see spending increases next year on areas such as storage and security. Eventually, tech segments such as RFID wouldbe a bigger factor, they said.

Jones said open-source operating systems had definitely caught the eye of Circuit City. That company's massive sales project would use Linux rather than Microsoft Windows XP Embedded, he claimed.

Thompson said Jet Blue had a close relationship with Microsoft but was taking advantage of some open source-derived technology.

Circuit City was also reserving more funds for innovation that might improve customer experiences, Jones said. For example, he said he expected customers would soon be able to use touch-sensitive biometrics technology to pay for goods and services.