IT directors fail to keep in touch

Citation

(1999), "IT directors fail to keep in touch", Work Study, Vol. 48 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ws.1999.07948caf.002

IT directors fail to keep in touch

IT directors fail to keep in touch

New independent research, commissioned by Workplace Technologies, one of the UK's leading network services companies, shows that the crucial role of the IT network in delivering business advantage is now well established and accepted by UK business. The research also shows that the network will have a more significant impact in the future with considerable growth in intranet deployment and the introduction of e-commerce. However, the research highlighted a divergence of opinion between marketing and IT directors regarding e-commerce.

The Workplace Technologies survey questioned 40 IT, finance and marketing directors at Times 1,000 companies. All respondents agreed that the network has a wide-ranging positive impact on major UK business today. More than three-quarters of those questioned agreed that the network is vital to building customer relationships, has enabled flexible working practices (thus improving productivity), and has significantly improved internal communications. The view was also shared that the network is expected to deliver significant additional benefits in the future with the introduction of intranets and e-commerce, improving business effectiveness and opening up new channels to market.

Intranet development was the most mentioned application to be implemented within all three groups of directors surveyed, being mentioned by 85 per cent of IT directors and over 65 per cent of finance and marketing directors. This is an application that is clearly gathering strength with huge potential for increasing network functionality for everyday users.

The widest variation in views highlighted in the research occurs with regard to plans for e-commerce. Although a majority of finance and marketing directors anticipate implementing e-commerce over the next 12 months, fewer than a third of IT directors anticipate its deployment in this period. While the views of marketing and finance directors are consistent with the overall e-commerce growth trend ­ some $400 billion of transactions worldwide predicted by 2002 according to research conducted recently by IDC ­ the views expressed by the IT directors are surprising.

Also, despite their future plans for intranets and e-commerce, surprisingly few ­ 38 per cent ­ of IT directors expect the implementation of these new applications to require major modifications to the existing network. This is in direct contrast to the market experience of Workplace Technologies where future-proofing of networking investments continues to be a major concern for the vast majority of organisations, owing to the increasing complexity and pace of change in information technology.

Brian Hickey, marketing director for Workplace Technologies, commented, "The results of the survey suggest that IT directors need to be increasingly business focused, working closely with their colleagues to ensure the network is able to support business-driven initiatives such as e-commerce. The network is at the heart of the business and these findings suggest that IT directors need to gain an improved appreciation of all the factors impacting network performance and the total cost of network ownership. This may explain why many of the directors surveyed saw network outsourcing to specialist managed service providers as an increasingly important future strategy."