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With the world in the grip of an economic downturn, making the most of IT spending has never been more important for business.

The Corporate IT Forum recently found that its most senior members are planning to invest in IT but managing costs, careful budgeting and trimming discretionary spending are key priorities.

With a potentially tough 2009 looming, Tim Ferguson as picked the brains of experts across the tech industry to come up with some of the areas CIOs should focus on when making their New Year's resolutions.

Be more efficient With the economic downturn looking like it will continue in 2009, one of the first things CIOs should look at is how technology could be used to make their business more efficient, as well as secure quick returns on investment.

Nearly £300m of taxpayers money is being squandered on poor management of IT projects and other service contracts, according to a government report.

The report, from the National Audit Office (NAO), blames Whitehall mismanagement of service contracts in IT, facilities management and business process outsourcing for lost potential savings of between £160m and £290m per year.

During December, silicon.com took a look at high-tech crime starting with a story about how UK police are one day hoping to develop a 'breathalyser'-type device for PCs. Once attached, the tool would circumvent the need to send the machine to forensics by automatically flagging up illegal activity on any PC.

Detective superintendent Charlie McMurdie, architect of the UK's Police Central E-crime Unit outlined the idea in an interview with silicon.com, saying: "Do we need to seize five computers in a suspect's house, or could we use a simple tool to preview on site and identify there's that one email we are looking for?"

The European IT market is flouting the credit crunch and is predicted to grow to €315bn next year.

Strong sales in IT services will fuel two per cent growth in the IT market in Western Europe, according to forecasts by the European Information Technology Observatory (EITO). silicon.com Financial Services Get the latest financial services news straight to your inbox. Sign up for the FS newsletter today!