IT projects around risk management, post-acquisition integration and cost-cutting are among those most likely to be approved this year, according to analyst house IDC.

Other IT programmes won’t be so lucky however: the company is predicting some will be held back, trimmed down or broken up as the recession continues to take its toll.

IDC’s European software and services research manager, Laura Converso, said in a statement: “Many projects will be delayed, reduced in scope, or chopped into smaller pieces, but so far we do not expect many projects to be cancelled.”

IDC forecasts that IT ‘deploy and support’ services spending will be cut to the minimum in 2009, and only ‘keep the lights on’ spending will be maintained.

Meanwhile, hardware shipments and software licence rates are expected to decline sharply in Europe this year, and IT training-related activity is forecast to drop by five per cent year-on-year.

As cash-strapped firms cut back on discretionary spending and new tech projects, IT services expenditure is expected to be flat this year: IDC has now lowered its previous optimistic forecast of 2.6 per cent year-on-year growth over 2009 to 0.6 per cent.

Spending on outsourcing is expected to be “less cyclical” than systems integration and consulting, and IDC predicts 4.4 per cent growth in 2009, with cost-cutting the primary motivation for outsourcing.