CIOs, CTOs, and senior IT executives cite business productivity and cost reduction as their top business concern, according to the 2009 IT Industry Trend Survey, commissioned by the Society for Information Management.

IT and business alignment, the number-one concern in 2008, fell to number-two on the survey, which annually provides important benchmark data in areas including spending, salaries, job scope of IT professionals, and technical/business trends.

Rounding out the top 10 concerns in SIM’s annual survey, the list includes:

3.) Business agility and speed to market

4.) Business process re-engineering

5.) IT cost reduction

6.) IT reliability and efficiency

7.) IT strategic planning

8.) Revenue generating IT innovations

9.) Security and privacy

10.) CIO leadership role

"The results of the study confirm that the economic downturn has caused a significant shift in priorities," said Jerry Luftman, former SIM VP for Academic Community Affairs and Executive Director of Graduate Information Systems Programs and Distinguished Professor of Information Systems at Stevens Institute of Technology. "IT executives are focusing on ensuring that business is conducted efficiently to get more mileage out of their budgets."

Nearly 250 company responses were gathered from senior IT leaders within SIM’s membership base and the community at-large.

Respondents indicated the number-one application/technology of importance is Business Intelligence. It was followed by server virtualization, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, customer/corporate portals, enterprise application integration/management (EAI/EAM), and continuity planning/disaster recovery.