Organizations all over the world are under constant pressure to provide value to their customers and meet the challenges of competition. In globalized free economies, this is truer today than ever. The primary factor that directly or indirectly contributes toward a company's business success is the cost of production and operation.
The business climate that has been putting a clamp on corporate spending continues to improve according to all the surveys I've seen, and the vast majority of CIOs and IT vendors I've spoken with express a similarly optimistic view of 2004.
There's so much noise generated by experts chanting the "information is key to business success" mantra that it's a mush of jazz, rock 'n' roll and classical instead of a single piece of music.