IBM is working on a self-healing computer that could make the complexities of IT systems a thing of the past. 'We aim to develop our hardware and software with built-in autonomy,' says Mandy Chessell, an innovator at IBM. Its future vision, called 'Autonomic Computing', features machines modelled on the human central nervous system: capable of handling their own basic maintenance and correcting human programming errors.

Software suppliers experiencing declining software sales have only themselves to blame. 'There is evidence of a slowdown,' says Dennis Keeling, chief executive of Basda (the Business Application Software Developers Association), but 'it has nothing to do with customers being short of money'. Those buying simply want to 'get something new from their purchase'. Which is why the suppliers suffering most tend to be those that have cut back on R&D. Yet even the undeserving may have a bright new year to look forward to. 'We should see a return to growth in 2002,' predicts Keeling, as many companies have yet to upgrade to deal with the euro.

'The e-commerce revolution in the UK is more rhetoric than reality,' according to Pritesh Kotecha, director of business process management specialist eiStream. Finance has made slightly more progress than other admin-intense functions in moving towards automation, but the move to online billing is, says Kotecha, 'little more than a pipe dream'. The average finance department conducts 65% of its standard administration using paper-based systems, according to recent research by eiStream.

Despite efforts to turn the UK into 'the place to do e-business', it ranks fifth in the world for e-government, according to a survey of 196 nations by World Markets Research Centre. The US leads, followed by Taiwan, Australia and Canada. More surprisingly, the tiny African kingdom of Lesotho ranks 12th. See www.accountancymagazine.com.