Last year’s survey showed that customer relationship

Last year’s survey showed that customer relationship management is by far the highest priority for UK IT buyers of packaged business applications in 2017. Automating financial software at the heart of every business – accounting, budget management, general ledger, payroll, etc. – is a major challenge. – it’s a sought-after award for many companies 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 highest interest in investing at 33%, followed by German-speaking countries at 31% and France at 17%. Data quality and management also fell in priority order, from 22% to 17% in the UK and from 17% to 14% in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa). EPS as an investment area fell from 22% to 10% in the UK and from 22% to 19% in EMEA as a whole this year. The Intelligence Index rose from 8% to 18% in the UK and from 8% to 16% in EMEA.