It is extremely unlikely we will see any IT companies following the example of financial services firms and carmakers in begging for state handouts. But it is nonetheless encouraging that Gordon Brown seems to be aware of the role technology can and must play in rescuing the economy.

The prime minister has taken to talking in depression-era terms as he continues his bid to save the world – ­ oops – ­ the banking industry.

Brown has on more than one occasion over the past month drawn parallels between last century’s investment in roads and railways and a 21st century priority for building digital infrastructure. His latest proposals highlight high-speed broadband networks and promoting jobs in technology industries.

This is all good to hear – ­ but forgive us a little cynicism while we wait for the proof. Only last year, the government as good as ruled out any state funding for next-generation broadband – ­ although there are rumours that technology minister Stephen Carter’s forthcoming Digital Britain review will look to find ways to better support private sector investment.

And just how many times have we been through government-backed initiatives to persuade young people to opt for a career in IT, with precious little success?

As Computing has pointed out repeatedly over the past year, history proves that companies which invest in IT are best positioned to survive a downturn. In what many predict will be the worst economic crisis for a generation, the same is surely true of countries.

Having the political will to promote our digital economy is undoubtedly a good thing, but we need fresh ideas and real momentum to make it happen.

So thanks, Gordon, for putting IT at the heart of your plans. Now let’s see some tangible actions to back up the politics.

With the economic crisis showing no signs of ending soon, the only certainty in the next 12 months will be uncertainty.

Clearly, financial services firms will be hardest hit, but the knock-on effects will be widespread.

However, past experience suggests that innovative users of IT will be best positioned to emerge the strongest from troubled times.

The constraints within which IT leaders will have to operate will test many. Capital expenditure will be tightly controlled, and considering that most major hardware purchases ­ and often large software licence deals too ­ are financed through leasing, with the cost of debt so high the options will be limited.

For small or medium-sized businesses, there will inevitably be a lot of interest in software-as-a-service, hosting, cloud computing and other online pay-as-you-go offerings that minimise or even avoid an up-front payment.

For bigger businesses, the spectre of outsourcing will loom large. There aren’t many major firms that have not outsourced at least some aspect of their IT operations already, and the potential for budget cuts and the conversion of direct costs to operational expenses gives a financial imperative that may be hard to argue against.

But there are plenty of technology options too. There is no silver bullet, no next big thing that IT leaders can turn to. But there are still plenty of current big things that offer significant potential savings ­ virtualisation, voice over IP and mobile working, to name but three of many.

Whatever route you prefer to choose, there is one action that all IT leaders need to take.

In previous downturns, there was much talk of bridging the IT-business divide to survive unscathed. Yet here we are again, and still the gap often seems as wide as ever.

There will rarely be a better opportunity for IT to work with its business counterparts to plot a route through all the current uncertainty. Let’s not waste this chance to cross that divide and close it once and for all.

It is good to see so many vested interests discussing the prospects for next-generation broadband in the UK.

The announcement of Ofcom’s latest consultation is an important milestone, and will, hopefully, allow all parties involved to debate the way forward without much of the finger pointing and acrimony that characterised the early days of broadband Britain back in 2001-02.

But given the wider economic crisis, there has to be a question mark over the plans to put the UK at the forefront of high-speed communications.

With estimates of a capital cost of up to £28bn to roll out a UK-wide infrastructure supporting bandwidth up to 100Mbit/s, the likelihood of massive private sector investment is small, certainly in the short term.

With the cost of credit so high as the banking system struggles for liquidity, the payback period for such a major initiative starts to become prohibitive. And there is little chance of government funding to make it happen.

As the Broadband Stakeholder Group points out, this presents an opportunity for smaller-scale initiatives for local fibre networks, a model pursued with some success on the continent.

But even then, with venture capital markets turning away from early-stage technology startups, it’s not a great time for any IT entrepreneur looking for cash.

This is just another example of how the clogged financial arteries will have a knock-on affect in the technology world. It’s already apparent that major IT vendors are starting to talk about optimising IT and making the most of your estate, rather than trying to push costly new products.

It’s too early to say whether or not the attempts to bail out Wall Street will be enough to minimise the knock-on effects. And when we see Microsoft planning the biggest share buyback in history to boost its stock price, it’s clear that even the most successful players are bracing themselves for a difficult period.

There has rarely been a time when smart ideas and cost-effective innovations will be more important to the prospects for the IT sector and for broadband Britain.

"Until high-speed connections are available, in even the remotest areas, then the benefits of broadband will be limited. We run the risk of social exclusion and the so-called digital divide.”

Now take a look at this story about next-generation broadband from this week's issue of Computing: Network deployment may open up digital divide

It would not be unreasonable to assume that comment was made in support of this week’s article. In fact, this quote was taken from a column published in Computing on 22 May 2002. Here we go again.

The move to a broadband Britain was a slow and at times painful process involving extensive finger pointing among BT, ISPs, content providers and government. But we got there; broadband is now an everyday part of the UK’s technology infrastructure ­ albeit with frustrations over speed and availability in some rural areas.

Nobody can doubt that the investments made by everyone involved in the industry were worthwhile, to reach the point where people are able to receive free broadband services as a perk of buying satellite TV or a mobile phone.

Entire industries already depend on broadband for their existence. There would be no iTunes, for example, no YouTube, no BBC iPlayer, to name just three of the most popular services enabled by high-speed communications to the home.

But still we have the same issues being debated as we enter the era of next-generation broadband.

There is no doubt that the economic case for ubiquitous 100Mbit/s connectivity will stand up to scrutiny. This is simply a must-have.

At government level, there needs to be a recognition that broadband infrastructure has become a critical national resource on which our future economic success depends.

Much of the support from Whitehall emanated from broadband champion Stephen Timms, but some of the momentum he generated seems to have been lost since his change of role in January.

Most of all, we must avoid a repeat of the finger pointing of 2002. Everybody wins from next-generation broadband, so everybody must play their part.