Chief information officers (CIOs) must work harder to prioritise users' increasingly sophisticated demands, says a survey by Accenture.

Chief executives and CIOs are facing a choice over whether to please consumers by offering the best systems, or impress investors by reining in spending.

But only 11 percent of IT interfaces focus on the customer and 80 percent of companies fail to gather comprehensive information on their preferences.

Users are growing impatient with what is on offer at work, said Accenture chief technology strategist Bob Suh.

“Consumer technology is now outpacing enterprise technology, leaving employees frustrated by the inadequacy of the technology they’re using at the office,” he said.

Consequently, employees are introducing their personal technologies into the workplace, even if the organisation does not support them.”

Respondents to the survey represent the most senior IT executives at about 300 Fortune 1000 firms in Europe, North and South America and Asia Pacific.