Regarding virtualization, Stainlay said the technology has already been "very helpful" for replicating servers and SANs across different locations.

"Virtualization allowed us to build a warm-swap disaster recovery site [so] if one goes down it's not automatic failover, but ready to be switched on." Looking ahead to 2006, Stainlay said RFID would be helpful but "management doesn't see it as something they need to invest in just yet".

Socrates Vasiliadis, chairman of lending industry e-commerce body LIXI, described the lack of standards as the IT industry plague.

"It is hard to harness technology in a constructive way without standards," Vasiliadis said. He is chair of the body that created Credit Application Language (CAL), which standardized electronic transfers for home loans.

"Next year we will be looking at wireless, mobile communications, WiFi; I would love to bring GPS, GPRS and WiFi connectivity together," he said. "Wireless technologies should cost the same as wired technology. I'm hoping in future costs will drop."