The fight against spam doesn't promise to ring up more revenue or slash the costs of doing business. But make no mistake: Fighting spam has become a priority for most businesses, and the backlash is leaving business-technology execs with no choice. They must fight the battle or suffer the consequences -- maybe both.

The results of a new InformationWeek Research survey make it clear that not everyone is gearing up for all-out war. Just over a third of 550 business-technology executives say eliminating spam is a high priority in their companies. The majority say it's a moderate priority, but maybe that's because they're so busy with more mission-critical IT projects. Or maybe they haven't yet heard from senior executives demanding that spam be kept out of their in-boxes. "If you don't get it under control, it's a very visible problem," says Lowell Mattox, VP of internal technology at MasterCard International. "You can get black eyes on this in a hurry."

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