Cordys today announces that a survey of 650 business and IT leaders across Europe has revealed the majority of business leaders surveyed (72%) say IT is not a facilitator for achieving their business priorities. Two-thirds of IT leaders acknowledge this, with 67% saying they do not believe that the business considers IT systems a help. The findings have been revealed in a report: "Improving business operations: The Ambition/Maturity Gap and the need for BPM", published today.
Executives cite improving customer service and engagement (70%), cutting costs (70%) and being more productive by 'doing more with less' (67%) as their top priorities for 2012. The majority of business leaders (92%) say they would like to see improvements made to the way their business functions to drive productivity, including improving employee productivity and empowerment (74%), information system integration (71%) and collaboration between departments (68%).
However, most business decision-makers (65%) do not feel that IT is helping them make the changes they require.
Interestingly, the vast majority of IT leaders recognise that their systems are not good enough, with 80% reporting their IT is not performing well with regards to areas such as managing unplanned customer interactions (45%), gaining a single view of the business need (44%), and bring data onto mobile devices (43%).
All IT leaders have been asked to make operational improvements, and the majority (57%) say the current economic environment has meant the business wants projects delivered more quickly. Most IT directors and managers (92%) say projects to improve operational effectiveness are already under way, or planned focusing on priorities, including information system integration (74%), access to business information to make decisions (72%), and employee productivity (71%).
The study shows the reasons for IT failing to deliver are both organisational and technical. Projects taking longer than planned (36%), the inflexibility and insularity of business systems (27%), and getting IT to absorb and react in a timescale that matches expectations (17%) are the key challenges cited by senior business leaders.
There is one aspect that IT and business leaders agree on - they do not work collaboratively on projects and priorities, demonstrating a lack of transparency and understanding between IT and business. That lack of collaboration has serious ramifications, with 23% of business leaders bypassing IT altogether and adopting cloud-based solutions. IT leaders recognise this, with more than half (56%) believing part of the business has already adopted cloud-based solutions. Forty-two percent believe they have done so because they need the systems up and running quickly.
However, the findings also show that organisations using a business process management suite (BPMS) to represent and model their company's business process are more likely to deliver the IT systems needed compared with those that do not use BMPS. Fifty-three percent of IT leaders using BPMS consider themselves as helpful within their business, compared with just 31% of non-BPMS users.
Art Landro, chief executive officer, Cordys, comments on the results: "It's clear that current pressures on organisations caused both by economic conditions and an increasingly competitive landscape means that businesses are demanding more from IT and within a tighter timeframe. The study reveals some of the reasons why IT is failing to meet the business need, and what the consequences are. But, encouragingly, there were a small group of businesses for which the situation is more positive - those using BPM technology to make real step changes."
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