IT budgets will essentially be flat in 2010, increasing by a weighted global average of 1.3 percent in nominal terms, compared with 2009 levels where IT budgets declined 8.1 percent, according to new research.

According to results from the 2010 CIO survey by Gartner, last year was the most challenging year for IT since the survey began in 1999, and CIOs had faced multiple budget cuts wiping away four years of budget increases. The result was CIOs basically the same level of resources as they had in 2005.

While there are some signs of recovery in the 2010 projections, these will not overcome last year's cuts.

While enterprises will transition at different rates and times, every CIO faces the need to raise productivity, create new capabilities and use the recovery to drive fundamentals of the current agenda and the repositioning of IT

The survey includes responses from 1,586 CIOs representing more than $126 billion in corporate and public-sector IT spending across 41 countries and 27 industries.

2009 was the most challenging year for CIOs in the corporate and public sectors as they faced multiple budget cuts, delayed spending and increased demand for services with reduced resources, said Mark McDonald, group vice president and head of research for Gartner EXP.

McDonald said that while technologies are transitioning from heavy owner-operated solutions to lighter-weight services, CIOs are, in turn, transitioning IT beyond merely managing resources to taking responsibility for managing results.

Transition gives the enterprise and IT the opportunity to reposition themselves and exploit the tough corrective actions taken during the recession, he said. CIOs see 2010 as an opportunity to accelerate IT's transition from a support function to strategic contributor focused on innovation and competitive advantage. They have aspired to this shift for years, but economic, strategic and technological changes have only recently made it feasible.