So, here we are, with our beloved leaders locking horns over a $700 billion bill to bail out Wall Street and the Dow taking a nosedive.
Well, it’s going to plunge even further as the ripple effect of the financial sector’s crisis is felt. All those companies closing down, and they’re big ones, means IT vendors will sell less product and services.
Pile mergers and acquisitions on top of that — behind every good M&A stands a bean counter cutting staff and, therefore, future orders of IT equipment.
And, as the economy continues to weaken, other companies will tighten their purse strings, refusing to cough up money for new IT equipment. Meanwhile, the vendors themselves will begin cutting staff, further swelling our unemployment ranks.
The one bright spot in all this may just be software as a service (SaaS) vendors such as [Salesforce.com ](http://www.salesforce.com/) and [NetSuite](http://www.netsuite.com/portal/home.shtml) because, when companies don’t have enough money to lay out the dough for capital expenditures, they may be willing to take the SaaS option. They just pay by the month and have, perhaps, some free cash left.
Expect cloud service players to get stronger too, as corporations use their services instead of investing in hardware.
Brings to mind the wise words of my old friend A. Nonymous: It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good.