There is nothing magical about the ICT sector. In a deeply uncertain global economy where the bad news has been both unprecedented and unrelenting, the tech industry is suffering just like everyone else.
But it does have something special about it. It attracts more than its share of the "glass-half-full" personality types.
Sure, it's a generalisation. And if your livelihood depends on the IT hardware market - which, in parts, has effectively ground to a standstill - it must be getting especially difficult to find the elusive silver lining.
Still, it holds true.
On the IT management side, it is during the tough times that tech executives really earn their money, finding and implementing systems that will reduce costs and improve business efficiency.
And on the developer side of the business, it is the down-cycle that brings out the best in ICT innovators and entrepreneurs.
Whether as a creator of new technology, or as the manager of corporate IT systems, technology executives are at their best as problem solvers.
Australians are widely acknowledged as sophisticated users of technology. Our businesses are big investors in new technology, and we enjoy the productivity returns those investments create.
But with no real end in sight for the current global economic roles, investment dollars are harder to come by. And IT managers are going to have to be more innovative about extracting more value from the systems they already have.
The companies that are best positioned to take advantage of opportunities presented as the economy starts to recover will the those companies that have continued to innovate through the tough times.
This is a message that you have probably heard from vendors over and over in the past several months. But Hannover Fairs Australia can point out - anecdotally, at least - that it is a message that has been heard loud and clearly by the Australian market.
Just as the global financial crisis is starting to take a real bite out of the real economy in this country, CeBIT Australia 2009 is shaping to be the biggest event the company has ever staged.
On pre-registration numbers, it will almost certainly be the biggest on record, because there is a genuine thirst for information about technology that can delivery real and immediate operational cost reductions on a reduced budget.
And don't take this to mean that HFA hasn't been forced like everyone else to cast a tough, line-by-line budgetary eye over everything we do. Just like others, we have made some hard decisions. And we have made some very strategic technology decisions to enable use to squeeze more from our existing resources.
These are serious times. Certainly there is nothing like a GFC to focus the attention on lowest cost/big impact decision-making.
Which brings us back to the glass being half-full. For a start, it isn't often that the IT manager gets to be the office hero. But while the celebrations tend to be muted, now is one of those times.
The next real wave of efficiency enhancement and productivity growth has already started, as companies have been forced to explore new systems and technology, and new ways of getting things done.
Jackie Taranto is managing director of Hannover Fairs Australia, organisers of the CeBIT Australia 2009 business technology exhibition and conference series. CeBIT Australia is the largest business technology event in the region and will be held from May 12-14 2009 at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre at Darling Harbour.
