I used to think that people who spoke about “spending money to save money” were justifying their Christmas shopping spree or that shiny new executive car purchase. But as I have met more and more of our clients, it’s become very clear that the higher up in the organisation a person sits, the more attention is now being paid to how money is being invested to gain tangible savings for which there is a sound business case.

During the recent ABFA conference, Alastair Wilson, Head of the Bank of England’s Financial Institutions Division, discussed the importance of the banking sector rebuilding its balance sheet while supporting the recovery through lending to the real economy. What is abundantly clear is that companies and UK PLC must continue to invest in technology, if not accelerate that investment.

Executives want to know how the money is being spent from their budgets to gain return-on-investment (ROI) and to maximise and prioritise their IT budgets. Coming into 2010, C-level executives are not afraid to spend money now to save money in the long run. In fact, if there is going to be a strong or high payback, they want to spend the money as fast as possible to realise the economic returns as soon as possible.

I’ve noticed that during challenging economic times, too often the lower-level positions in an organisation translate corporate belt tightening initiatives from the top as times of “no spending” or “no budget.” This is all too often an incorrect interpretation and it can be misleading. The directive from above may instead be about asking the organisation to review how existing budget is being spent today compared to other ways it may be allocated to gain a greater ROI.

2010 is not the time to stop spending, neither is it the time for prevarication! The bottom line is that the smart money is on spending to save money, and that budget can usually be found if there is a will to achieve real returns!