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By Graham Hayday, 2 December 2002 15:45

NEWS The internet, integration and intelligence will be the three top software priorities for IT buyers in 2003, according to Ovum. The analyst house believes that addressing these three issues will be crucial in helping businesses achieve return on investment (ROI) and cutting costs. It should also go some way towards giving better control of complex systems. Philip Carnelley, software research director at Ovum, said: "With no 'next big thing' in sight, nothing should distract users from focusing on ROI. Or, more accurately, return on previous investment. IT departments must strive to maximise the value from their existing systems and software. This may mean investing in additional tools." The first priority identified by Ovum is Internet Protocol (IP). "In the same way all trains are built to run on a standard size track, applications are now designed to run on the internet, which makes deployment easier and cheaper," Carnelley said. He went on to say that the second priority companies need to address is the integration of their existing systems. All large organisations are supporting a huge range of incompatible systems. Getting rid of the inefficiencies resulting from it is more important than developing new systems. Carnelley said: "We believe that better integration will help organisations to grab that elusive ROI, which is why middleware remains a growth market." Finally, companies need to harness business intelligence. Existing systems produce mountains of data. Business intelligence software gives managers a better understanding of this data and allows companies to reduce risk by helping them to run their operations more efficiently. It can also improve ROI by providing a better understanding of customers and enabling the company to target its customer-focused initiatives. Ovum believes real-time analytics, with its ability to provide intelligence from customer data more or less instantly, enabling companies to speed up the decision process, will be particularly important. "This represents the coming together of the three 'I's' to provide real business benefits," Carnelley added. "Analytical applications can be integrated with operational systems using internet technologies. For example, retailers can detect fraudulent till transactions within 30 seconds by linking them with customers buying patterns." Carnelley concluded: "We don't advise IT buyers to go out on a spending spree - even though providers are probably ready to cut some very good deals. But businesses must not forget that IT can still give them competitive advantage if wisely chosen - especially if competitors are reluctant to spend in the current climate."