The UK government’s Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC EES) came into effect on the 1st of April 2010.

So, recent research from TNS/Zeus Technology shows that 82% of UK online shoppers said that if a website performed badly it would dissuade them from buying goods from that organisation on the web or in store.

The survey was based on a sample of over 2,000 shoppers and shows that each of them will abandon around 5.5 online purchases every year due to poor website response times.

A recent survey of 110 IT executives from large companies indicates virtualisation projects top the corporate priority lists for 2010.

This is supported by a recent Gartner report that shows the number 1 technology priority is virtualisation, with cloud computing in second place.

This is predicted to drive demand for contractors and permanent staff with virtualisation skills.

Global IT spending by financial services firms is set to reach $357.4 billion in 2010, an increase of 2.9% over 2009, according to research from Celent.

Firms in Europe account for 36% of the overall figure.

Maintenance continues to be the largest area of expenditure, accounting for a massive 72.7% of total IT spend in 2008 although this figure is predicted to fall to 70% in 2012.

The Y2K bug strikes again as legacy software struggles to handle the changeover to 1 January 2010.

Some experts are convinced the problems are due to quick fixes in the run up to 2000 which made any two-digit date less than 10 a date in the 2000s, while anything greater than 10 was pushed back into the 1900s.

Reported cases are:

A recent survey of 3,000 IT executives finds IT budget cuts had harmed innovation had stopped organisations winning new business.

Around 53% of CIOs said they didn't understand cloud computing or see how it could save them money. This corroborates another piece of research Majority of European IT Heads Unaware of Cloud Computing.

The survey was carried out by Datamonitor on behalf of BT Global Services.

According to a new report from IDC Britain was ranked in third place in the 'Green IT' index - the ICT Sustainability Index.

The report puts the UK  behind Japan and the US but in third place with Brazil, France and Germany.

The report evaluated the volume of greenhouse gases in the world then looked at the role of ICT in reducing those emissions.

From 1st January 2010 EU businesses will have to account for the reverse charge to VAT on the cost of services provided from offshore locations outside of the EU as a result of the Finance Act 2009.

Under current legislation the place of supply for VAT purposes is deemed to be the country where the supplier is based. If a supplier is based outside of the EU there is no VAT liability.

In a recent survey less than 50% of CIO’s said they would invest in technology and systems which weren’t proven elsewhere. In another survey 30% of CEO’s were critical of their CIO’s ability to talk to the business about the innovative value of new and emerging technologies.

It is clear that many CIO’s adopt a cautious approach and focus on process improvement and cost efficiency, but very few talk about their role in innovation to develop the business.

There are many reasons behind this:

Recent research highlights that CIOs are increasingly recognised as key members of the senior executive team. Unlike other corporate disciplines, the IT leader is uniquely positioned to see the whole of an organisation's operations and their role encompasses a wide variety of expertise including change management, project delivery, innovation and partner management.

These days CIOs are much more actively engaged in setting strategy, enabling flexibility and change, and solving business problems, not just IT problems.