The UK was the most optimistic of six advanced markets with 63 percent expecting IT budget growth. Fifty nine percent of businesses in the US and 44 percent in Germany expect to increase their budgets. In France only 36 percent expect an increase in their budgets, in Italy 54 percent, and in Spain 55 percent.

In spite of UK firms' planned budget increases, over eight in 10 said the cost of planned projects was an "important" or "very important" factor behind executives giving them approval to begin. Three quarters of businesses felt IT was under pressure to also deliver more flexibility.

A third of businesses in this country said that keeping project requirements as constant as possible, without allowing too many changes, was key to cutting costs. Other key strategies for carving out costs included asking suppliers to cut their charges, giving other departments the responsibility for project management, adopting open source, rationalising or replacing existing systems, and offshoring some project roles.

Customer relationship management software will receive the most IT investment money, the executives said with 41 percent of firms stating it would receive "significant investment" next year. Thirty seven percent will invest in server virtualisation, and a third will invest in e-business.

Service oriented architecture is the next key area, with 28 percent of firms expecting investment. A quarter of firms expect to make a significant investment in business process improvement, and finance and performance management.