The major construction companies have been consolidating. As a result large scale payroll and human resources systems have become high priority projects for CIOs.

Rising operating costs, regulations and environmentalism mean CIOs are driving route planning and inventory management plans.

Enterprise resource planning, integrating communications and information management projects for R&D departments are amongst the challenges facing CIOs.

Public sector projects have made mistakes and received media attacks; a debate about tax cuts is growing, putting an even tighter squeeze on the resources.

Media and betting companies have witnessed the most significant changes as a result of the net changing their newsgathering and distribution techniques.

Utilities have focussed their IT efforts on efficiencies in order to increase the dividend for shareholders and on customer facing applications for billing.

Energy companies have been consolidating in recent years and just like their customers, they seeing the true cost of IT on the power bill.

Communications companies are looking to extract more from their IT operations through standardisation and the reduction of suppliers.

Recent events could increase the pace of consolidation in banking, which in turn will lead to increasingly difficult integration projects.

IT departments in the retail sector are focussing on supplying the customer, whether it is through major improvements to the organisation’s supply chain.