Projections are in for the 2009 IT budget, and the outlook isn't so rosy: 44% of companies expect flat budgets, and only 28% project an increase. The remainder expects a decrease or is uncertain.

Not the best news, indeed. For those concerned about how to spend their limited IT resources in 2009, I have a few suggestions on where to focus those efforts when it comes to the branch office.

First, it’s imperative for IT staffs to leverage the very technology they deploy for the rest of the organization. Many aren’t expecting to add more people to the staff, so they need to make the existing team even more productive.

Some of the key technologies to examine are collaborative applications and mobile extensions of business and/or communications applications. For example, IT staffs can more easily resolve trouble tickets by using instant messaging - extended to a mobile device - to reach the top expert. So when a problem reaches Tier 2, the right person lends his or her expertise to the situation. Or, when an IT staff is partially distributed, members can rely on Web conferencing or videoconferencing to discuss strategy, implementations, or problems - and resolve them more quickly.

Second, invest in management and monitoring tools. If the IT staff must manage multiple locations centrally, they need the right tools to predict, isolate, and resolve problems. This may include optimization technologies, which not only improve performance but also provide solid insight to application usage and trouble spots. It also may include tools that push security patches, or automate some simple problem/resolution. Basically, any tool that offloads the IT staff’s manual work will help in this time of budget crunch.

Finally, IT leaders must more carefully assess cross-training. By investing between $2,500 and $10,000 on key IT personnel, IT staffs can improve their collective brainpower. Any given individual with some background in multiple areas - say, networking, security, and telecom - can bolster training in any of those areas and become an expert in more than one discipline. The end result is that the IT staff becomes more productive in dealing with multiple types of problems from various locations.

The budget crunch doesn’t have to be a period of stress and ridiculous workloads. Spend the budget you do have wisely, and use any extra time to develop strategy for when there is money to spend.

Robin Gareiss is executive vice president and senior founding partner of Nemertes Research. Click  here for the newsletter archive.