ICT managers have bigger budgets, more staff and greater influence over the future development of services. This is the conclusion of the latest edition of the Society of IT Management’s annual IT Trends survey.

ICT spending by local authorities is forecast to increase by 5 per cent in 2008/9. More organisations are forecasting increases in IT revenue spend this year than those forecasting reductions.

While the financial resources available to ICT functions in the sector have increased since 2007 they still lag behind commercial comparators. There is a reluctance to borrow to finance ICT schemes, suggesting that the business cases are not compelling. Pooling of budgets has not yet taken off as expected and shared service development has proved to be elusive.

ICT staff remains the biggest cost for all types of organisation in the sector.

The research suggests that there needs to be a greater focus on using ICT to monitor and manage the business. Organisations that use ICT as a strategic resource rather than as a utility achieve better performance ratings than those that don’t.

The survey shows that organisations are working on a wide range of initiatives to deliver both short-term tactical cost savings and schemes that will change fundamentally how services are delivered.

The IT Trends Survey is published by Socitm www.socitm.gov.uk Cost 495 pounds.