Increasing Influence Of 'The Business'

In last year's survey, the IT department was still the key driver behind customers' technology buying decisions. Now, it's not so clear. "It's almost as often driven by the business, and that's a significant increase in the influence of the business," said Bryan Jones, vice president of marketing for Dell. "It's the CMO who's really pushing for big data. Sales is really pushing for mobility. IT plays a really important role, but the business is really pushing it forward and adding dollars. To channel partners, it says you have to be calling wider in your organization."