Leader: The CIO Agenda for 2007

The year ahead promises to be another challenging one for CIOs and IT directors who are tasked as ever with keeping the show on the road and demonstrating the value of IT to the business. But there will also be many opportunities.

Some key themes have emerged from the results of silicon.com's exclusive CIO Agenda survey, which is now in its third year. It's by no means scientific, with responses coming from 18 IT chiefs on our CIO Jury panel, but the quality of those responses gives a snapshot of what matters to CIOs in 2007.

This year's CIO Agenda certainly shows more signs of optimism than last year when the talk was of cost-cutting and flat or declining IT budgets. More than three-quarters of the respondents now say they are more optimistic than this time last year.

IT budgets are inching upwards, with two-thirds of CIOs saying their spend for the next 12 months will remain flat or go up. Big business transformation programmes are driving this and the modernisation of legacy systems.

Looking at the specific technology shopping list CIOs are largely ignoring the web 2.0 and Microsoft Windows Vista hype and instead focusing their budgets on mobile and wireless, convergence and compliance. New tech priorities this year include IT infrastructure library for better project management and governance and service-oriented architecture (SOA).

The key challenges identified in the survey will be familiar to most CIOs - "cutting through vendor bullshit" and recruiting and retaining talent.

In the bigger picture the trend continues to be about proving the value of IT to the business. This puts greater pressure than ever on CIOs and IT directors but also provides the opportunity to gain credibility with the board and take on a more strategic role within the business.

That will be the challenge for many in 2007 - to deliver on the stuff that's taken for granted like keeping the lights on and improving service, while becoming more business-centric, more strategic and less technically focused.

Thanks to those who gave their time to take part in this year's CIO Agenda survey, including: Russell Altendorff, IT director, London Business School; Mark Beattie, head of IT, LondonWaste; Nicholas Bellenberg, IT director, Hachette Filipacchi UK; Graham Benson, IT director, the Web Factory; Peter Birley, IT director, Browne Jacobson; Les Boggia, head of IT, Carole Nash Insurance; Chris Broad, head of IT, UK Atomic Energy Authority; Paul Broome, CTO, 192.com; Linda Chandler, head of IM and technology, London Development Agency; Neil Hammond, head of IT, British Sugar; Neil Harvey, head of IT and accommodation, Food Standards Agency; Chris Linfoot, IT director, LDV Vans; Nick Masterson-Jones, IT director, Voca; Andy Pepper, director of business IS, Tetley; Sean Powley, assistant director for organisational development and customer services, London Borough of Barnet; Gavin Whatrup, group IT director, Creston.