"The IT people I view as business leaders are looking at this downturn as a catalyst for change," Dvorak said. "Barriers to change are often more political than technical," he noted. With the economy in dire straits, it's easier to push for transformational change in a business rather than "continue down the same old path of cost cutting, which will not give you a new cost curve."

A more obvious need for change -- which the economy has provided -- can lower resistance to projects such as server virtualization, which may mean that various departments end up sharing servers, Dvorak noted.

"IT leaders we have worked with have spent the first half of the year blueprinting projects, and now the faucet is ready to be turned on," he said.

This may be part of the reason that industry watchers are looking past the bad numbers lately, and finding faith in some of the good signs that are starting to spring up.