Lack of influence for IT in the boardroom revealed

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Nearly half of private and public sector businesses and organisations do not have an IT representative at board level, says a management survey.

IT management felt that they did not have much influence on general business decisions. As well as the 44 per cent of organisations lacking board representation, 42 per cent of CIOs and IT directors said that they were not involved in decisions involving organisational changes until the implementation stage or later.

"The IT department should be at the heart of any forward-thinking organisation, not consigned merely to maintaining existing systems," said Graham Ridgway, CEO of IT business management company Touchpaper. "Many CIOs and IT directors are frustrated by their lack of a real voice in the decision making process."

There was a big difference between the way private and public sector treated IT management. It was shown that only 38 per cent of public sector organisations had a CIO or IT director at board level as opposed to the 61 per cent of private sector companies.

"There have been different structures put in place with public sector organisations such as councils," offered Touchpaper marketing director Marina Steadman as an explanation, "IT was previously seen a niche topic."

The research aimed to quantify a difference between 'good' IT and 'great' IT by surveying 125 CIOs and senior directors. Most agreed that 'great' IT required the ability to add real value to an organisations overall strategy, but only 59 per cent thought that their IT departments offered this.

"Without a doubt, the time has come when 'good' simply isn't good enough in terms of IT service delivery. 'Good' may keep users happy, but it leaves the CIO reduced to somebody who spends their whole day putting out fires," said Ridgway.

"Little wonder that he or she is unable to make a proper contribution to the strategic direction of the organisation and is left sidelined and without influence as a result."

IT PRO reported last month about how CIOs were losing influence in businesses. Increased IT responsibilities of unconnected departments were preventing a clear IT strategy.

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