CRM back on the IT radar

Customer relationship management (CRM) may be down but it's not quite out. Despite many deployments failing to live up to expectations, companies are still interested in the potential of the technology to improve their sales operations according to research from ZDNet UK.

The latest quarterly IT Priorities survey of around 200 UK IT managers showed although CRM has suffered from bad press and declining sales over the last two years, IT professionals are still interested in the potential of the software and view it as an immediate priority for their business.

Given the number of serious security threats over the summer it's no surprise that viruses were also seen as an area of significant urgency. In the longer term, network security and authentication were also serious issues.

Other technologies identified by the research as being of pressing importance included mobile wireless, desktop hardware and content management systems.

The IT Priorities Research Programme is ZDNet UK's way of staying in touch with the technology plans of UK organisations. It is designed to provide a snapshot of the technologies expected to be important to organisations now, in the next 12 months, and in 24 months.

As well as providing Special Reports covering the latest trends and movements around a particular priority, IT Priorities Toolkits contain a comprehensive resource of analysis, whitepapers and features covering almost every aspect of a technology or issue.

Overall the research revealed IT professionals see an eclectic mix of disruptive and fairly innocuous technologies being important over the next two years including Web services, Tablet PCs, wireless LANs, directory services, content management and intranets.