Businesses hail IT's role in weathering the recession

Investment in technology is a key priority for UK companies, says study

Most businesses believe IT is a key route to achieving future growth

In a survey of 300 companies and government organisations conducted by BT Global Services, 74 per cent said better use of technology had been key to weathering the recent economic storm.

In addition, 42 per cent said that investment in new IT was a key priority going forwards.

Over the next 18 months, 68 per cent of respondents said they would be looking for faster networks, flexible working and managed ICT services to improve their businesses.

Some 52 per cent of financial services sector respondents said that they believed investment in IT would give them a competitive advantage - with faster, low latency networks for trading and information sharing cited as important.

For 76 per cent of financial services executives, IT spend is only second to marketing budgets as a means of creating business growth.

Sixty per cent of financial services firms and 52 per cent of transport industry companies said IT investments are key to sustaining growth.

Elsewhere, 39 per cent of logistics businesses said their business "didn't suffer at all" during the recession.

In terms of spending plans, more than half of logistics businesses will prioritise investment in training (51 per cent), promotions (51 per cent), product and service development (53 per cent) and marketing (57 per cent).

According to the study, a third of all companies plan to introduce flexible working technology as a way of managing staff and property-related expenditure.

The vast majority – 83 per cent – said that they are now doing "more with less" and believe that some of the IT investments they have made during the downturn have put them in a stronger position for recovery.