4 October 2005 CIOs at some of the largest US companies are reporting increases in their budgets as organisations intensify their reliance on IT to deliver top-line growth.

Analyst group Forrester Research regularly tracks developments with CIOs at 150 large US companies – those employing 500 to over 20,000 staff. In its latest poll, Forrester reports that confidence is rising among those CIOs: 80% expected to increase IT spending in the coming nine months; 55% of those expect the increase in spending of 5% or more.

The forecast spending increases are accompanied by increased confidence in the current business climate with 86% claiming it to be ‘strong’ or ‘very strong’, although hurricanes Katrina and Rita may have dampened that optimism.

“In 2006, leading IT organisations will participate more in business innovation, become catalysts for process transformation, and will help the firm move beyond compliance to enterprise risk management,” wrote Laurie Orlov, research director at Forrester, in a briefing note.

This new set of priorities for the CIO will reshape project management, said Orlov: increasingly IT executives will turn to more broadly-used process methodologies such as Six Sigma and ITIL.

This will also drive an increasing reliance on using IT management tools, helping benchmark the impact of IT projects, said Orlov. With businesses seeking new ways to grow their top line, the IT organisation can free funds up by becoming more efficient.

“With higher expectations on value per dollar invested in IT, today’s IT can’t afford its historical inward focus on technology,” she added. Today’s typical IT workers have more business skills than their predecessors and are increasingly interested in managing projects and relationships.