Last year’s survey showed that customer relationship

Last year’s survey showed that customer relationship management is the clear priority for packaged business applications among UK IT buyers in 2017. Automating financial software at the heart of every business – accounting, budget management, general ledger, payroll, etc. – is a big deal. – it’s a sought-after award for many businesses, with machine learning and robotic process automation at the forefront. Blockchain has grown from 3% to 6% as an investment focus in the UK and from 5% to 10% in the Emea region. The survey, for which TechTarget surveyed 243 IT professionals in the UK and 1,875 in Emea in Q4 2017, focused on purchasing decisions for 2018. In terms of cloud applications overall, the U.K. showed the most interest in investing (33%), followed by German-speaking countries (31%) and France (17%). Data quality and governance also lost priority, falling from 22% to 17% in the UK and from 17% to 14% in EMEA. This year, GAP as an investment area fell from 22% to 10% in the UK and from 22% to 19% in EMEA as a whole. The Intelligence Index rose from 8% to 18% in the UK and from 8% to 16% in EMEA.