IT services fall short of greatness, CIOs say

Technology leaders want to improve how IT supports the business, but without being involved in strategic decisions at the highest level, many say IT can't realize its goal of adding value to the bottom line.

Nearly 80% of 125 CIOs and senior IT directors polled said a lack of senior representation at the board level had a direct impact on their ability to deliver great -- rather than just good -- IT services. Good IT services for the purposes of this survey were defined as "merely day-to-day maintenance and firefighting." Great IT services were defined as "a series of strategic business/operational processes that add value to the bottom line."

The "Great vs. Good IT" research was conducted in January 2008 by Omniboss, a division of Vanson Bourne, and commissioned by Touchpaper, an international provider of IT services and other management products. The survey found that more than 40% of CIOs and senior IT directors did not believe that their department delivered great IT services. Another 42% of those polled reported that they are not involved in the decision-making processes around major organizational changes until the implementation stage or later. In addition, 44% of technology leaders confirmed they don’t have an IT representative at the board level.  

Others cited technology among the issues holding them back from maturing service delivery from good to great. For instance, 55% attributed their lack of great service delivery within IT to not having systems and processes in place to make IT changes effectively. Nearly half (49%) reported they lacked solutions to automate the handling of day-to-day IT service and support issues.

"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 just putting out fires," said Graham Ridgway, CEO of Touchpaper, in a company statement.