On the information front, people need answers and market leaders Google and Yahoo are probably the closest thing the web has to ultimate answer machines.

The open-source movement tends towards devaluing software, which is a difficult pill to swallow for a software company--but you have to embrace it to survive. The skill is in selecting the right combination of open-source applications and technologies together with your own differentiating factors. Today’s IT managers must be agile and clued in to understand the changes taking place in this acronym-rich development world and take advantage of them. Picking the right technologies is important, but we’re always looking for the right mix between technology, industry direction and the most important thing, which is what the customer needs.

CFDJ: In short, it appears as if we've emerged from the dark days of the bubbleburst--although we understand that things never rose quite as high nor fell quite as far in Europe--but what have we emerged into? How are the worlds of IT development and management different today than they were five years ago?

Tattersall: I agree things were a little more down to earth in Europe, compared to the highs and lows which were experienced in Silicon Valley--we’ve emerged from infantile optimism into adult realism. How have things changed in the last five years? I think the IT development has stepped up a gear – agility, software assembly rather than software development and open source are the key differentiators. On the management side it’s more like back to basics – nowadays, we focus on the bottom line and a solid business case; it doesn’t cut it anymore to just have a .com after your name.