What IT worries about

The Society for Information Management last week released the results of its survey on top business concerns facing IT executives. Aligning IT with business strategies remains the perennial favorite, but other concerns garnering increased attention this year include retention, government regulation and IT governance.

Conducted by the Stevens Institute of Technology, the survey is based on responses from nearly 300 SIM members. As the economy improves and the job market strengthens, retention moves up on the list this year. Reporting requirements of the Sarbanes Oxley Act and the internal controls businesses now require across the enterprise have spurred the appearance of government regulation and IT governance on the Top 10 list for the first time.

The top management concerns identified are as follows: 

1. Business/IT alignment.

2. Employment retention.

3. Security and privacy.

4. IT strategic planning.

5. Speed and agility.

6. Government regulation.

7. Complexity reduction.

8. IT governance.

9. Information architecture.

10. Business process reengineering.

Jerry Luftman, professor of IT at Stevens Institute who conducted the survey, also shared rankings for the applications and technologies of most importance to respondents:

1. Security.

2. Business process management.

3. Business intelligence.

4. Web services.

5. Customer portals.

6. Data synchronization.

In a sign of the fast change inherent in the industry, four of the top six categories – security technologies, BPM, customer portals and data synchronization – weren’t even in the top 10 last year. Security rose to the preeminent spot on the list due to the increasing threat posed by spam, viruses, spyware and adware in compromising security.

“CIOs and CEOs face more challenges than ever to leverage the rapid changes in information technology that can help them better align IT with the goals of the business,” Luftman says.