As a percentage of total revenue, no industry spends more on IT than banking and financial services. Banks and other financial institutions in our annual InformationWeek 500 survey expect to allocate 8% of total sales to IT-related expenditures this year, compared with just 2.4% for all industries combined. And next to hospitality and travel, banks are the highest implementers of IT-led new products and services for customers, with 57% indicating they plan such investments this year.

While our data was collected before the full brunt of the mortgage meltdown hit, we're still seeing companies invest in IT-led services. Wells Fargo in July rolled out its vSafe "personal online safe" in 18 states, with plans to go nationwide by year's end. It lets customers store electronic copies of medical records, passports, financial papers, and the like for $4.95 a month.

Wells Fargo saw a need and, in true Web 2.0 fashion, a chance to put tools in customers' hands. "Seventy-five percent of our customers said that secure filing was important to them and that they weren't happy with their current systems," says Teddy DeRivera, executive VP of Wells Fargo's Internet Group.

The security focus makes sense: Improving information security technology is the No. 1 IT risk management priority for all industries in our survey, including banking.

Industry Snapshot: Banking and Financial Services