As the economic crisis continues, reducing the cost of IT operations is a key consideration for many European organisations, with decision makers actively addressing the issue and looking for ways to improve cost effectiveness.

In a recent survey of IT decision makers in more than 500 European organisations, IDC found that almost 50% of respondents said investment in IT process automation was a likely response to the financial pressure they are currently experiencing.

“Also, respondents who see reduction of IT headcount or centralisation of IT resources as a likely crisis response are considerably more likely to automate IT processes,” according to IDC.

Martin Canning, VP, software and services research for IDC EMEA said the research showed that European organisations of all sizes were now more seriously considering investments in IT process automation than was previously the case.

"IT organisational change is fuelling interest in process automation. IT groups may be faced with having to continue to deliver existing levels of service to their organisations, but with fewer personnel. Employing process automation techniques is likely to be their best shot at achieving this."

Other findings of the IDC study also included:

• Twenty five percent (25%) of organisations surveyed said reduction of IT headcount was a distinct possibility, and in the U.K. and France the proportion was closer to 33%.

• Larger organisations showed a stronger likelihood to invest in IT process automation, but smaller and medium-sized organisations also showed a strong interest.

Patrik Bihammar, research manager, infrastructure software at IDC said the research showed that there were definite opportunities for IT vendors such as BMC, CA, HP, IBM, and Opalis.

"Now is the time for these vendors to push the IT process automation message in all its guises, and match their market messages with the realities of IT organisational change that many European organisations are facing."