As IT budgets threaten to follow the same trend lines as financial markets, it's a natural impulse for managers to circle the wagons, concentrate on core projects and put off innovation for another day. Natural, but wrong. For proof, look at what happened after the Internet bubble burst earlier this decade. Sure, that tech bust pales in comparison with the current worldwide credit crunch in terms of overall effect, but if you consider the Internet sector alone, the money drought and corporate failures were pretty stunning.