CIOs will increasingly have to share their control of IT budgets with marketing departments as customer relationship management (CRM) software is becoming critical to customer retention.
Mac Scott, associate director in KPMG’s CIO advisory, said the convergence of marketing and IT means marketing professionals will gradually hold more influence on IT budgets.
“Simply because marketing and IT teams depend on quality data, slick processes and stable software, chief marketing and chief information officers will increasingly need to form strategic partnerships,” he said, adding collaboration could create efficiencies, improve workflows and reduce costs.
The finding was part of KPMG’s Technology Issues Monitor, which also revealed IT spending is set to fall short of earlier predictions
Spend globally will reach $2.7trn in 2012 after 3.9% more will be spent than in 2011, but this falls short of earlier predictions of 5.9% growth, largely due to the weak European economy.
The figures show the four technology sectors of computing hardware, enterprise software, IT services and telecoms equipment will be the worst hit by shrinking budgets.
IT services spending, for example, is expected to grow by 3.1% compared to 6.9% last year. In contrast, demand for business analytics, cloud computing and enterprise mobility technology will limit the total the decline.
Scott said factory output is falling and economic sentiment weakening, which means initial views about the industry’s growth pattern are being hastily revised.
“The second recession is beginning to hit and CIOs must now decide which way to turn," he said. "The questions they must ask revolve around whether they have the right processes in place and what value they can squeeze out of existing arrangements.”
There are islands of growth, however, as whilst European spending falls, India, China and Malaysia will see increased investment in IT, said KPMG.
