IT Disappoints, But CEOs Still Believe

Most CEOs believe information technology will pay off, but they are disappointed in the return on their IT investments so far. That was one of the salient findings of a new survey of 650 CEOs and other senior executives from a variety of industries in nine countries. Conducted by the Dept. of Information Systems at the London School of Economics, the study was commissioned by Compass Analysis, a management consulting firm in Reston, Va. "The bottom line is that CEOs expect more from IT than they're getting," says David Burkett, president of Compass America. "Whether their expectations are realistic or not is beside the point. IT management needs to do a better job at delivering and demonstrating value from IT." Less than 38% of the CEOs responding said they expected IT to make a significant contribution to business results. An equal number said they expected an average contribution from IT, and 25% expect a low contribution. Looking ahead, though, half of CEOs responding said they expect IT to make a high contribution. In terms of achieving competitive advantage, only 37% of CEOs rated IT as making a significant impact; and only 19% were satisfied with the results. Surprisingly, 54% expect IT to have a significant impact on competitive advantage in the future.