Pennies from heaven

Why not refresh tradition transmission with the newest technologies? Fleur Doidge discovers religion-driven IT

In the Book of Exodus, when Moses came down from the mountain, he carried two - presumably rather heavy - tablets graven in stone with those 10 commandments. Communicating his good news would have taken a lot of time and considerable energy expenditure.

Today, however, nearly all faiths can and do take advantage of the latest technologies. In fact, according to Gartner, the emerging category of religion-driven IT will generate $40bn (£26.4bn) in software and services revenue by 2017.

Asheesh Raina, principal research analyst at Gartner based in Mumbai, India, says the dynamic of IT and religion is creating a new industry, where religion fuels IT innovation as well as growth, in emerging economies in particular.

"Religion has a great influence on high-growth regions such as Latin America, Africa, the Arab world and South Asia, thus compelling new entrants and incumbent IT providers to seek new opportunities with religious entities," he wrote in a research note in November.

This is not just about working with religious groups - churches, charities, and schools - or supplying religious educational material, but about the increasing influence of the wide range of different faiths on the IT spend of specific vertical markets, industries and enterprises. This will result in new ways of doing business, and a range of "unconventional opportunities" for canny IT providers over time.

"Direct IT spending by religious groups is small compared with the influence of religion on the IT spending of other industries and enterprises," Raina confirms.

He says the next four to five years will see religion slowly but steadily continue to drive and change the way IT is consumed today by generating new and diverse IT opportunities and business models - as per Gartner's recent Maverick Research report, How Religion will Drive your Future Business.

"A lack of standardisation and non-availability of skilled resources in this space will require IT to play a critical role, albeit while treading carefully," Raina says.

Developing nations in particular are the beneficiaries of a range of organisations when it comes to education, infrastructure construction, and other aid in which IT increasingly plays a role. And many of those organisations either have religious faith at the core of what they do or are serving customers who follow a faith and thus prefer, or even require, offerings that take their beliefs and practices into account.

It is not just about emerging nations and multiculturalism either - at home, everything from Islamic organisations to Buddhist temples and the Church of England (CoE) has an ongoing need for tailored and appropriate IT hardware, software and services.

Some such organisations are small charities and therefore may have considerations that partly resemble those of the smallest businesses with little in-house IT expertise - while others are massive undertakings which are nevertheless not for profit and may have needs closer to those of a public sector customer. Some may also have charity operations or outreach abroad - including Anglican Communion, an umbrella organisation covering 38 Anglican churches worldwide.

Nick Clarke, communications officer at the CoE, says churches often bond together and form buying groups, in the same way that schools do. Parish Resources is the main Anglican organisation that IT resellers should contact if they wish to develop a customer relationship. "Obviously, IT is becoming increasingly important for many or all of us in our society," he says. "We use things such as Parish Resources to team up with suppliers to get discounts in everything from gas to telecoms, IT and software."

All a-Twitter

The church is becoming big in social media too, so the latest ideas about marketing and communications can be very relevant. The CoE has about 10,000 Facebook followers, Clarke says, and has had a lot of success with Twitter. "We had a very successful Christmas campaign, and you will find a lot of what we do on the website," he says. "We are very busy at the moment, of course, with Easter week."

The CoE's inaugural #ChristmasStartsWithChrist campaign saw congregations and clergy across 12,500 parishes, including in Australia, India and Switzerland, send 9,000 tweets about Christmas, including sermons. From 11pm on Christmas Eve to 11pm on 25 December, there were 370 tweets per hour, or one every 10 seconds.

Gartner's Raina says global tourism has also expanded many faiths' need for IT as more people visit temples and shrines, and go on Hajj or take part in other pilgrimages or tours. Religious bodies worldwide, he says, are increasingly looking for a range of safe, secure, automated IT services to help.

"Religion-based banking, equity trading, mutual funds, financial services and so forth, including Islamic banking, takaful insurance and [Dow Jones' Buddhist and Hindu-focused investment mechanism] the Dharma Global Index, require new applications, products and heavy software customisation - thus creating a role for religion domain experts," adds Raina.

Gartner research suggests that being able to serve religious communities is becoming more important for IT companies hoping for growth in emerging markets. Over the next five years, high growth is expected in countries including Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Poland, Turkey and Argentina - often developing countries where a large percentage of the population adheres to one organised faith.

Islamic law or Sharia has often been interpreted differently in different regions, such as the Middle East and Malaysia, but according to magazine Global Islamic Finance, over the past two or three years it has begun to converge, developing economies of scale that can benefit IT providers aiming to serve the specific needs of Islamic financial services.

The Q'uran prohibits the collection of interest, instead charging fees or donations for services provided, for example, and Islamic banks are governed in part by a Sharia advisory board of ethics, comprising mullahs (Islamic scholars or clerics).

After the banking crises in the West, Islamic finance is becoming more popular. Ernst & Young research has found that in Malaysia alone the percentage of Sharia-compliant financial assets held by commercial banks is expected to expand from 23 per cent to 40 per cent by 2015.

Sharia-compliant filters are increasingly being applied to equities held globally as well, meaning the demand for providers with staff who can apply their expertise within an Islam-friendly framework will also rise.

Gaining the right expertise may be a challenge for the UK channel - but there is certainly an opportunity for growth.

Where to put your faith

*Emerging markets with high religiosity, such as MEA

*Commercialised religious opportunities, such pilgrimage

*New business opportunities stemming from religious needs

*Religion-driven IT in segments such as finance

*Hunt for new markets, spurred by a slowing of traditional IT demand