What’s the economic meltdown really going to do to IT? The word from the folks at Gartner: IT managers will be expected to do more with less.

That means not only cutting costs by reducing staff and putting off projects, it means making company operations more efficient and cost-effective by using technology.

Say what? You heard it right: Expect budget cutting and more important projects — that you may not have the staff or other resources to pull off.

These could be challenging times for the typical CIO, if you listen to what’s coming out of Gartner’s current symposium and IT Expo in Orlando, FL.

According to reports from the conference, the No. 1 item on Gartner’s list of what IT execs have to prepare for was the worst of all, from a manager’s standpoint: hiring freezes and possible layoffs.

One of Gartner’s key recommendations is to virtualize systems, which isn’t exactly a new idea, but one that the high tech consultants are now emphasizing as a key cost cutting strategy.

“The next big thing in IT is not a technology — it is cost reduction, risk management and compliance,” said Peter Sondergaard, Gartner’s global head of research at the conference.

Tags: Compliance, cost-cutting, freeze, hiring, layoffs, risk management, strategy