2010 crunch time for business plans

Gartner has advised companies to innovate and concentrate on growth

Organisations must change the way they do business this year, and switch from cost-cutting to a push for increased revenues, according to a new report from Gartner.

The analyst firm said that companies face "critical challenges in 2010" as they wrestle away from a recession mindset and start doing business again.

Companies had been working in "keep-the-lights-on mode" for the past two years, and are "ill-equipped" to support growth and boost revenues. Firms that take risks and truly innovate will be the post-recovery winners, Gartner said.

"For IT leaders, entrepreneurial growth and the shift from a 'problem-focused' to an 'opportunity-focused' organisation requires more planning and execution than simply changing the organisational chart," said Jorge Lopez, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.

"The greatest conflict faced by entrepreneurial chief information officers [CIOs] will be the tension between the team focused on the entrepreneurial opportunities and the team focused on 'keeping the lights on'."

He added that to fail on either side is likely to be "highly dangerous for the business".

Much of this change will be the responsibility of CIOs, who should seize the opportunity to identify areas of IT change, and assess where and how changes should be made to the enterprise IT architecture.

Lopez recommended that CIOs use tools and frameworks to help them navigate change, and called on them to be "ambitious".

"Ambition is the animating entrepreneurial vision that redefines the rules of competition for an industry," he said.

"It deliberately sets out a compelling picture of the future that will outstrip existing resources to challenge incumbent competitors to match the magnitude of their vision."

Lopez highlighted a number of companies that have truly embraced change, singling out Apple and Amazon.