Business, technology leaders disagree on IT effectiveness, survey says

IT executives think highly of their ability to deliver effective IT strategies. In fact, technology leaders value their strategic contributions quite a bit higher than their business counterparts do, according to a survey by Saugatuck Technology.

The research firm last week released the results of its December 2006 survey of about 340 C-Level executives and 240 CIOs and senior IT executives at companies with greater than $1 billion in revenue. The survey was conducted in partnership with BusinessWeek Research Services. Survey findings reveal a chasm between what CEOs and those in similar positions think of IT's effectiveness as compared with what technology leaders perceive.

"The unsettling conclusion from this is that while everyone seems to agree on IT strategy priorities at a strategic level, there is still quite a bit of room for improvement at the tactical level," the firm wrote in a research alert. "This tactical dysfunction between IT and business executives serves as a tremendous indicator as to why we consistently see gaps between the real and perceived value of IT to the enterprise."