December 21, 2012 2012 was a year of growth, however minimal, for bank IT departments. After years of flat or declining budgets due to the fallout of the recession of 2008-09, banks by-and-large saw their IT budgets grow this past year.

As we enter 2013, IT faces a kind of transition in the banking industry. No longer off on its own, IT is playing a greater role in helping banks carry out marketing, sales and channel integration initiatives in financial services. Bank Systems & Technology asked a sampling of industry veterans and watchers what they thought will be IT's biggest challenge in 2013.