The difficult environment is providing an unprecedented opportunity for IT leaders to show their added value and significantly increase their impact at board level, according to a Deloitte survey on the role of IT in the business environment.
The 2009 edition finds that IT is under tremendous pressure to deliver business value, being responsible of the performance of the IT sector, as well as of the opportunities that could emerge and add value.
Although the IT voice is still not sufficiently heard at board level, both IT managers and their business counterparts confirm that the crisis has intensified fruitful dialogue between the two sides.
Chris Verdonck, Partner, Deloitte Enterprise Risk Services added, “Most companies are still fighting the impacts of the crisis. But in spite of the urgency and the uncertainty which rule today, now is probably a good time to reflect on how IT and Business can work further together to create value.”
The survey also shows that IT will cross the border of automation and efficiency and will add value to the corporate sector.
About half of the responding companies rarely or never discuss IT matters at board level. One out of five says that IT strategy is rarely or never aligned with company strategy. For the majority it is still a yearly exercise tied to the budget. Organisations must further focus on the compatibility of IT direction with overall strategic orientation.
Only 41.5% of respondents see IT as the driving force of business decision-making. But the crisis, with its drastic reprioritisation of IT investment portfolios, has intensified dialogue between IT and the Business. Institutionalising this level of dialogue beyond the crisis should be on the CIO’s mind as a means to get Business and IT aligned.
This year, participants from 28 countries from all over the world were s
