We're doomed Captain!

I was optimistic for a while (or is that naive?) ... when the big bad credit crunch hit I made the argument that the mobile sector would be relatively protected. Afterall, after the last telecoms crash cut out the fat in the industry so it's already lean and mean. Also, the research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in July claimed that a mobile phone had now now from being a 'luxury' to an 'essential' item in people's lives. Getting rid of your mobile phone just isn't an option.

But of course it cuts deeper than that and the news today that AlcaLu is cutting jobs is all part of the general doom and gloom.

So what does it all mean? Well, we're all going to have to work alot harder to make the case for the business benefits of technology. In a recession, you have to cut costs out of a business and technology is the path. Hence we're seeing debates around, for example, Unified Communications develop from being focused on productivity gains to have a clear recession-busting slant.

How technology plays into these 'new economics' will be the key battleground, I suspect, of 2009. And as we know, if you frame the debate, you have a much better chance of winning the debate!