Lack of relevant skills is the main reason companies are
failing to align their IT to their business needs, say CIOs at top
firms.
In a
survey commissioned by CA, 300 CIOs at firms with sales of over
£150m were questioned about improving
IT and business alignment.
The survey revealed that only half of the CIOs were currently
improving that alignment.
This was despite the fact that 74% of them believed that better
prioritisation of IT spending based on business needs was a
critical IT management goal.
Respondents said that the primary drivers for alignment were a
desire to avoid spending that yields a low return on investment,
and the need to ensure fulfilment of business-side demand.
Respondents in the UK, Germany, Australia and Japan were
significantly more likely than those in the US to rate their
organisations as successful in reaching such an alignment, CA
said.
According to the survey, US IT executives are also more likely
to be dissatisfied with their organisations' performance in
improving service to end-users, controlling costs, and other goals
than their counterparts overseas.
However, US respondents are more likely than those in other
regions to be satisfied with their deployment of automation and
virtualisation initiatives.
Worldwide, 53% of respondents claim that the biggest barrier to
improved alignment is shortfalls in staff skills. In the UK and
Germany though, only 40% see skills as the primary obstacle - while
37% indicate that their most significant challenge is inadequate
technology integration.
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