HOBOKEN, N.J. -- Although information technology budgets and resources continue to grow, important organizational problems in the function remain and may even be worsening, according to a major new survey of chief information officers. IT's lack of alignment with overall business remains a festering problem, the survey says; and business unit integration of IT is still far off.
Jerry Luftman, Professor of Information Services Programs at Stevens Institute of Technology, today released the results and ramifications of his 2006 Survey of Chief Information Officers, conducted this summer.
The survey of 140 senior-level information officers at corporations in a range of industries was sponsored by the Society for Information Management (SIM) and administered and interpreted by Professor Luftman. The results were released today at a SIM conference in Dallas, Texas
Luftman's survey report elaborates on the following findings and insights:
IT and business alignment remain the very top concern of IT executives. Despite all the resources and technological innovation that the IT function benefits from, the needle hasn't moved in years on the state of alignment with the overall business.
- Improvement in business process management should have been among the top-two areas of improvement and development between 2005 and 2006, but it wasn't. Web services, business intelligence and security technologies were the top developments, ahead of business process management. Luftman believes this means that IT continues to focus too much on technology itself and not enough on its management and its alignment with the business.
- The past year witnessed an uptick in chief information officers' reporting to CFOs. Although reporting to CEOs increased too – a good thing in terms of the business integration of the IT function – more reporting to CFOs indicates an increase in some corporations' viewing IT as a cost center, as opposed to a function that drives revenue and innovation.
- Few companies (16%) have a "federated" IT function – one that's in part centralized and in part imbedded in the business units. In an ideal company, the IT function is federated.
To interview Professor Luftman and receive a copy of the report on the survey of information executives, please contact Patrick A. Berzinski at 201-216-5687 or pberzins@stevens.edu
About Stevens Institute of Technology
Established in 1870, Stevens offers baccalaureate, masters and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science, management and technology management, as well as a baccalaureate in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. Located directly across the Hudson River from Manhattan, the university has enrollments of approximately 1,780 undergraduates and 2,700 graduate students, and a current enrollment of 2,250 online-learning students worldwide. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.Stevens.edu.
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