What is the real state of UK IT? The IT sector is under the financial microscope like never before, as City types scrutinise every vendor’s quarterly results and every major company’s technology budgets for signs that the downturn is biting hard. Yet no absolutely clear and discernible pattern seems to be emerging.

In the supplier world last week, IBM was looking good, Intel was a mixed bag, but AMD was a disappointment.

Among users, Citigroup announced plans to cut its costs as a result of the credit crunch (www.computing.co.uk/2214633) and its chief executive highlighted IT as a likely target.

But analyst Gartner said that PC sales were up 12 per cent year on year in the first three months of 2008 (www.computing.co.uk/2214550). And this week, Royal Mail tells us about a new £1.2bn technology initiative.

So is IT spending up or down? Are vendors doing well or badly? And is it the economy driving these announcements or simply the normal ebb and flow of individual businesses?

It is too soon to tell. Most IT spending this year has been pre-committed budgets and planned initiatives. Six months from now will be a better time to judge.

But caution is the common theme. Gartner’s advice that IT leaders should prepare a contingency plan in case of spending cuts is wise. Plan ahead, be prepared, and make sure that technology is seen by your organisation as the way to survive any downturn, not the first budget to be slashed.

Join with the legal eagles
Have you noticed how often lawyers write articles for Computing these days? Legal issues are encroaching on the IT department more than ever as bad publicity from data protection disasters affects more and more organisations.

Regulatory compliance, privacy and legislation are an increasing fact of life for IT leaders ­ but they will never be your area of expertise. There will rarely be a better time than this to make friends with your in-house legal team.