CEOs starting to embrace IT

05 Jul 2007 07:57

Poll reveals that three-quarters of UK chief executives consider their IT network to be key to the operation of their business

The UK's business leaders are embracing IT and accepting the important role technology plays in their companies' success.

More than three-quarters (78 percent) of the UK's business leaders said their IT network is very important or vital to their business, with just one in 10 viewing the IT network as a "static pipe for data", research reveals.

Of the 600 UK business and IT directors surveyed, the high-growth companies — where revenue has increased by more than 15 percent in the past year — are also more technology-savvy, compared with lower-growth businesses.

High-growth companies are twice as likely to have flexible working capabilities, seven times more likely to offer Wi-Fi networking across their offices and 50 percent more likely to view their IT network as a vital, strategic asset than companies with zero growth, according to Cisco's IQ of the British Network study.

Conversely, business managers' top concern is finding and retaining talented staff but 47 percent said their company does not allow remote or teleworking and less than two-fifths (38 percent) allow staff to work remotely or from home under certain circumstances, the research revealed.

Working from home is extremely popular with technology professionals, judging by a recent poll from ZDNet.co.uk's sister site silicon.com in which nearly a third (29 percent) of respondents said they work from home every day.

But the apparent discomfort with remote and home working among business managers is reflected in IT investment plans, with home working ranking as the lowest influencing factor on IT managers' technology investment priorities over the next 12 to 18 months, according to the Cisco research.

Nick Watson, vice president for enterprise business at Cisco UK and Ireland, said that, without the support from chief executives, technology investments alone cannot drive positive business outcomes.

The role of the chief executive and chief information officer need to overlap more, with chief executives buffing up on IT and chief information officers understanding more about the business, according to the recent Business Leadership of Technological Change report from the Chartered Management Institute.

The report said: "The right relationship and expertise mix between chief executive and chief information officer is crucial. Specifically, the chief information officer needs business as well as technical skills, to ensure that specialists do not just pursue their own technical agenda alone."

Story URL: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/itmanagement/0,1000000308,39287866,00.htm