Service and value improvements highest on IT managers' list of priorities

Accenture survey shows firms are turning their backs on cost-cutting

Improving levels of service and demonstrating the value of IT to the business were among the five key technology challenges for 2006 for IT chiefs, according to a new survey published this week by consultancy Accenture.

"It's saying to us that UK businesses are not concentrating as much as they have done in the past on cost-cutting and are thinking more about IT supporting the business," explained Accenture senior executive, Stuart Okin. "This makes sense because there was huge investment up to the millennium, then post-dotcom crash everything stopped, and up until a couple of years ago it's all been cost-cutting."

But only 13 percent of firms said that innovation was a key part of their IT strategy, something Accenture is advising its clients to embrace.

"If you can constantly innovate, and come up with a flexible environment, you can be ahead of the competition," Okin said. "But a whole host of things need to be done to make that happen – we're talking about 3-5 year programmes, depending on where you are in the lifecycle and the risk appetite [of the organisation]."