IT Highly Valued, But Still Not a Major Contributor to Innovation

Eighty-seven percent of senior executives believe that information technology (IT) is important to their organization, according to a global survey commissioned by the IT Governance Institute (ITGI). However, more than half do not feel that IT is an important contributor to innovation, underlining an opportunity for IT to increase its value as a strategic partner. Additionally, nearly half of all organizations do not measure the value they are achieving from IT.

The ITGI study revealed that 59 percent do not view IT's contribution to innovation as important or very important, although a significant majority recognize IT as a major contributor in its traditional strongholds: efficiency and effectiveness. Only a third of enterprises rely on their IT department to provide information about potential business opportunities enabled by new technologies, a key benefit of innovation.

Executives reported that the organization's culture and a lack of the right skill base are among the top barriers to achieving value. ITGI also found that executives do not believe that IT managers are communicating new opportunities to the business -- this finding was in contrast to a 2008 study of IT managers, who reported that they provide the business with frequent information. A solution, according to ITGI, is to include the chief information officer (CIO) on the executive team -- 40 percent of respondents do not currently do this or do not have a CIO.

Based on the challenges that executives identified in the survey, ITGI offers the following advice:

--Take ownership of IT governance and assume overall accountability over IT.
--Make the CIO reporting line as direct as possible to the top executive decision body.
--Use external advisors, when necessary, as a source of knowledge and guidance.
--Pay more attention to the potential for innovation IT can offer.
--Start measuring the value that IT brings -- or does not bring -- to the enterprise.

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