ATLANTA - Tuesday, February 13, 2007.

Dr. Don Ratajczak Tells CIO Roundtable Forum Attendees That the US Economy Will Weather Soft Spots

Dr. Donald Ratajczak, Regents Professor Emeritus of Economics at Georgia State University, and former Director of the Economic Forecasting Center in the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State, speaking at The CIO Roundtable Forum luncheon on January 25th, said that he believed the economy has absorbed the downturn in housing and autos and should recover nicely. "This time it's not about the consumer not having the money," he said. "It's more about delay until pricing reaches a new equilibrium, which will be completed soon." He indicated that the auto industry slide was more of a wrong guess on the part of management concerning the appetite for hybrids and smaller SUV's. "As soon as inventories are righted," he advised, "and the shift to newer, thriftier models is completed, autos should be back on track." He also advised the technology-oriented audience that more gold was taken out of the California hills in the 1880's than in the Gold Rush days of 1849. "The Internet is undergoing the same transformation," he said. "We are seeing the gold emerging now, with new communications technologies allowing world changing business patterns of new products and new distribution."

Also speaking at the same discussion-oriented luncheon, was Suresh Kumar, business consultant and former Corporate Director of IT of Rock Tenn Company, a $2.2 billion corporation in the pulp and paper industry. He spoke about the costs and the advantages of Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), the recent federal financial reporting regulations that have gone into effect over the past several years in US corporations. He indicated the cost of implementing SOX so far has been $6 billion with the average amount per corporation, some $3 million. "It has been a program we can characterize as 'no accountant left behind'," he told the appreciative group, referring to the surge in business for accountants who helped corporations implement the regulations. He also said that in many cases, he believed SOX stifled innovation as corporations focused resources on installing the new financial reporting systems, and resisted change until that was accomplished. In general, the attendees agreed that SOX implementation was disruptive, but, in the end, provided a new level of organization and discipline that was helpful to all parts of an organization.

The CIO Roundtable Forum is an invitation-only luncheon series designed to offer a small group, discussion forum over lunch for IT Executives and other technology interested professionals. The roundtable features noted speakers addressing important technology issues and leading a discussion among the attendees.

Paalam, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, is a technology services company that specializes in managing globally distributed technology development teams for its clients. Paalam offers significant savings by providing fixed price contracts, guaranteeing quality and managing software development projects end to end.