As the Australian government looks to consolidate its IT infrastructure in hopes of saving up to $1 billion over the next 15 years, Gartner's new survey reveals that many CIO's in the country's commercial sector have seen their budgets increase from last year. Both public and private sectors are looking at more strategic use of their IT resources.

Commercial "CIOs see 2010 as an opportunity to reposition themselves and accelerate IT's transition from a support function to strategic contributor focused on innovation and competitive advantage," VP for Gartner's Asia Pacific Executive Programs Linda Price said in a statement. "They have aspired to this shift for years, but economic, strategic and technological changes have only recently made it feasible."

Australian federal government has announced a new strategy for procurement of data center services. According to a report by theaustralian.com, the government is planning to establish a panel of data center suppliers, through which it will go to buy services, changing the traditional way of procuring services on the market directly.

The new strategy was outlined in a report by the Australian Government Information Management Office;however the report has been kept secret with no clear explanation why and has its critics in the legislature.

In addition to Australia, New Zealand stood out in Gartner's analysis of the results of its recent Executive Programs 2010 CIO Agenda Survey. About 33 percent of CIO's from the two countries reported that their budgets increased this year, compared to 2009, and 10 percent of them said they saw their budgets shrink.

The survey, conducted in December of 2009, included 1,586 CIO's from around the world, 67 of whom were from Australia and New Zealand. About 38 percent of all CIO's surveyed reported budget increases, however 22 percent of CIO's worldwide reported that their budgets had shrunk. That brings the average percentage of Australia and New Zealand CIO's that saw their budgets increase higher than the worldwide average by two percent.

Price said 2009 was the most challenging year for IT in a decade. "As many (Australia and New Zealand) organisations operate on a July to June financial year and may not have known their budgets by December, we think this represents a conservative view, and 2010 may shape up to be much better than this," she said.

"Last year, many CIOs faced multiple budget cuts wiping away four years of budget increases. Some IT budgets have not returned to 2005 levels, let alone 2008 levels. However there are definite signs of recovery in the 2010 projections."